Assisted suicides have reached a record high in Switzerland, with a total of 1,729 residents of Switzerland ending their lives by this means in 2023, 59.92% of whom are women.
According to data from the Federal Statistical Office in Switzerland, in 2023 there was an 8.47% increase in assisted suicides among residents in Switzerland from the previous year, when there were 1,594 assisted suicides.
The figures show that more women than men end their lives by assisted suicide in Switzerland. In 2023, women accounted for 1,036 of those who had an assisted suicide, while men accounted for 693.
According to the data, women have been ending their lives through assisted suicide at a ratio of 3 to 2 compared with men. Between 2003 and 2023, 57.62% of all those who have died by assisted suicide have been women.
A number of studies have noted that more women than men tend to end their lives by assisted dying. This is the case not only in Switzerland, but the Netherlands too. It has been suggested that this might be explained by the fact that, in general, “women are more likely to develop a psychiatric disorder than men, especially depression or anxiety disorders” and that these disorders are “most common among patients suffering from a [psychiatric disorder] requesting [euthanasia or assisted suicide]”.
The data also reveals that there were 187 assisted suicides among residents of Switzerland in 2003. This means that between 2003 and 2023, there was an 824.6% increase in the number of residents of Switzerland who have ended their lives by assisted suicide.
Of all those who died by assisted suicide in 2023, 90.86% were 65 or older, compared with 88.08% in 2022. The percentage of those 65 or older who have died in this way has been steadily increasing since 2003, when 74.33% of those who died in this way were 65 or older.
Between the years 2019 and 2023, there was an average of 70 suicides per year among those aged 95 and older. 66 (94.29%) of these were assisted suicides. Over the same time period, there were 529 suicides among those aged 85-94, 464 (87.71%) of which were assisted suicides. For those aged 75-84, of 611 suicides, 477 (78.07%) were assisted suicides, and for those aged 65-74, 261 (66.08%) of 395 suicides were assisted suicides.
The law around assisted suicide in Switzerland, established in 1941, is broad. The Swiss Criminal Code only outlaws assisted suicide in Article 115 for “selfish motives”; it is permitted in all other circumstances.
Assisted suicide in secret
The figures come after reports emerged earlier this year of a British mother, Anne, who ended her life at a Swiss assisted suicide clinic without informing her family, highlighting concerns that assisted suicides in England and Wales could also happen in secret if Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill becomes law.
Anne, whose surname has been withheld, told her family she was going on holiday to Switzerland from Wales, but actually went to Swiss assisted suicide clinic, Pegasos, near Basel, to end her life.
According to Anne’s family, she did not have a terminal illness, with her sister Delia referring to her as “one of the healthiest people we know”. Reports indicate Anne ended her life after suffering from depression following the death of her son.
Anne’s brother and sister, John and Delia, were left devastated when they first heard of Anne’s death through “goodbye” letters that Anne had written before her death, in which she wrote “I am no longer here”.
Having heard nothing further, Delia contacted assisted suicide clinics in Switzerland. After contacting Pegasos, Delia received an auto-reply; then, after further appeals, Delia eventually heard from Pegasos, who said “Anne has chosen to die”.
“All official papers and her urn will be sent to her brother John”.
Anne’s brother John expressed his frustration at the lack of communication from Pegasos regarding Anne’s death, calling their actions “evil”. He said “Why do they possibly think they have the right to do these things without contacting her family? It just seems evil to me… not to give us a chance to speak to her”.
Delia added “It’s absolutely devastated the family. It has destroyed us”.
Important questions about assisted suicides taking place in secret
Anne’s case raises important questions about how families would respond to a loved one’s assisted suicide in the UK, taking place in secret. With no requirement in the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to inform or involve family, there is nothing in the Bill to prevent assisted suicides taking place in secret in England should it become law.
Nikki da Costa, former Director of Legislative Affairs at 10 Downing Street, expressed these sentiments in a post commenting on Anne’s case on X, saying “This is just like Kim [Leadbeater]’s Bill. NO mechanism for family to be told nor raise concerns either before the person’s life is ended or afterwards. Imagine being the parent of a terminally ill 18 year old and finding out afterwards your child chose this to relieve the burden on you?”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The increasing numbers of assisted suicides as well as the disproportionate impact it is having upon women is a cause of grave concern”.
“The apparently ever-increasing numbers of elderly people ending their lives through assisted suicide in Switzerland ought also to be deeply alarming for advocates and opponents of assisted suicide. It speaks to a profound cultural malaise that any culture would actively facilitate, and, to that extent, encourage its elderly population to end their lives by suicide”.
“These sombre figures should be ringing alarm bells for supporters of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill in England and Wales. Such legislation, as indicated by the data from Switzerland, is basically a form of abandonment of the elderly, whose deaths amount to deaths of despair”.
