Psychiatrists: Euthanasia is rising among young adults with mental illness in the Netherlands

A recent article published in the Psychiatric Times revealed that an increasing number of euthanasia procedures committed on young adults in the Netherlands are solely due to mental illness.

Key Takeaways:

• Euthanasia has been rising in the Netherlands, comprising 5% of all deaths in 2024.

• This increase includes euthanasia for mental illness, particularly among young adults.

• A new research article pointed out that the "professional restraint" for psychiatric euthanasia has begun to disappear in recent years.

The Backstory:

In 2025, the Netherlands released statistics regarding euthanasia, revealing that assisted deaths increased 10% from 2024. As Alex Schadenberg, International Chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, noted, euthanasia deaths now make up 5% of all deaths in the nation.

More disturbingly, there was a 60% increase in deaths for psychiatric reasons. The increase has become so dramatic that even the euthanasia review committee (RTE) has begun to raise concerns.

“Are we still doing this right?” Jeroen Recourt, RTE’s president, asked. “I welcome social debate on euthanasia due to mental suffering in young people.”

In 2020, just five people below the age of 30 were killed by euthanasia. By 2025, it had risen to 30. In one case, a young man under the age of 18 was euthanized because he had autism, anxiety, and depression. He had previously been suicidal, but his application for euthanasia was still approved.

The Details:

Jim van Os, Wilbert van Rooij, and Mark S. Komrad authored a joint research article published this month in the Psychiatric Times, in which they argued that originally, even after euthanasia had been approved for mental illness in the Netherlands, psychiatrists exercised restraint:

For many years, psychiatric euthanasia in the Netherlands was virtually nonexistent. Between 2002 and 2010, only 1 or 2 cases per year were reported across all age groups. This changed markedly after 2011. According to data published by the Regional Euthanasia Review Committees, the number of psychiatric euthanasia cases increased from 2 in 2011 to 138 in 2023, followed by a further sharp rise to 219 cases in 2024, representing an increase of roughly 60% in a single year.

Within this expansion, youth euthanasia cases are increasingly prominent. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of euthanasia cases for individuals under 30 rose from 5 to 30, a 6-fold increase, representing over 9% of all premature deaths (suicide + assisted dying) in that age group in the Netherlands. When requests rather than completed euthanasia are considered, the numbers are worrying. Given that an estimated 3% of youthful (<24 years) applicants receive euthanasia, the estimated number of youthful applicants in 2024 would total 7300.

Now, that has changed.

"That professional restraint has weakened rapidly over the past several years," they wrote. "What had long been treated as a theoretical possibility has become an organized clinical pathway. Requests for euthanasia on psychiatric grounds have risen sharply, with a disproportionate increase among young adults and, more recently, minors. The Dutch model, once presented internationally as careful and balanced, is now attracting attention for a different reason: growing uncertainty about whether psychiatry has crossed a boundary it cannot coherently justify."

They pointed out that euthanasia for mental illness among young people now represents over 9% of all premature deaths for people under 30.

The Bottom Line:

This is a prime example of the slippery slope the pro-life movement warns of with assisted suicide and euthanasia. While it is presented as an issue of compassion and dignity, in reality, all it does is promote death.