Almost 4000 Belgian euthanasia deaths in 2024.

Belgian euthanasia deaths more than doubled in the last 10 years.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Brussels Times reported on March 19, 2025 that there were almost 4000 Belgian euthanasia deaths in 2024. According to the Brussels Times report:

The number of patients opting for euthanasia in Belgium rose by nearly 17% in 2024, amounting to 3,991 cases, according to figures by the Federal Control and Evaluation Commission on Euthanasia (FCEE) on Wednesday.

The graph (2014 - 2024) shows that the Belgian euthanasia deaths have more than doubled in the last 10 years.

The Brussels Times stated that euthanasia represented 3.6% of all deaths in 2024 which was up from 3423 in 2023 or 3.1% of all deaths.

It is important to state that Belgium is known for having a significant number of unreported euthanasia deaths. Several years ago Dr Marc Cosyns stated that he does not report euthanasia deaths because he believes that euthanasia is no different than any other medical or palliative care procedure.

The Belgium euthanasia data indicates that there is a much higher rate of euthanasia among Dutch speaking as compared to French speaking citizens.

The figures show a sharp 25% increase in the number of Dutch-speaking patients: at 3,042, they represented more than 76% of cases in 2024. On the French-speaking side, however, there was a decline from 1,001 in 2023 to 949 last year. "The commission has no possible explanation for this," they said.

 The Brussels Times continued:

The bulk of patients were over 70 years old (72.6%) and over 43% were older than 80. "Euthanasia in patients younger than 40 years remains rare," said the FCEE. Last year, there were only 50 cases in this age group. One case involved euthanasia in a minor. "Since the extension of the law in 2014, this brings the total number of registered cases in minors to six."

Belgium expanded their euthanasia law in 2014 to permit child euthanasia. The Brussels Times reported that:

In 76.6% of cases, death was expected in the short term. However, euthanasia in patients who are not terminal did increase, especially among those with multiple chronic conditions. The vast majority of patients experienced both physical and psychological suffering (82%). Just under 16% experienced only physical pain and 1.9% only psychological suffering.

It is concerning that 26.8% of the euthanasia deaths were based on "polypathology", a term that includes people with various chronic and incurable diseases. These deaths are usually people with disabilities who are often not otherwise dying.

Luc Van Gorp, the President of Belgium's largest health insurance fund, Christian Mutualities (CM) stated in April 2024 that Belgium cannot fund its healthcare needs and requires more deaths by euthanasia.