August 10, 2025

One out of 25 in the Netherlands died of euthanasia in 2020

Michael Cook

There were two cases of euthanasia for Covid-19

Canal in Amsterdam / Bogdan Todoran on Unsplash

Here are the latest figures for euthanasia in the Netherlands, drawn from the 2020 annual report.

  • With 6938 deaths by euthanasia, this accounted for 4.12% of all deaths. (If the estimated 15,000 extra deaths from Covid-19 were put aside, the rate would be 4.52%)
  • There were two cases of euthanasia for Covid-19 in 2020.
  • With one more case of child euthanasia (a boy aged 12-16), a total of 16 children aged 12-17 have been euthanised since 2002.
  • The Supreme Court's decision allowing surreptitiously sedating a person with dementia in order to ensure non-resistance to euthanasia “requested” in an advanced directive is being put into effect, with two cases in 2020.
  • Abandonment of hope and affirmation of despair are continuing to be pursued as a legitimate response to people with mental illness. Included in the 88 cases reported for 2020 was a 60-70 year old woman with an intellectual disability euthanised for depression.
  • There were 235 cases of a “stack of old age disorders”.
  • In 7% of cases of attempted assisted suicide by ingesting an oral barbiturate, death was delayed and the doctor administered euthanasia drugs intravenously.

A full report can be found at the Australian Care Alliance website.

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