REPORT: Suicide among elderly has quadrupled in Switzerland

Recently reported data reveal that the suicide rate among older people in Switzerland has quadrupled over the last 25 years, due to the country’s pro-assisted death laws.

Key Takeaways:

• Over the last 25 years, suicide rates of those aged 85 and older have quadrupled; rates for those aged 65 to 84 have doubled.

• Experts attribute these deaths to the country’s pro-assisted suicide laws.

• Swiss officials include legally-sanctioned assisted suicide deaths in suicide rates, but this isn’t the case everywhere.

The Details:

Swiss public broadcaster, RTS, released the report which shows an astonishing rise in suicide due to Switzerland’s assisted suicide and euthanasia laws: since 1998, rates of suicide among those age 85 and older have quadrupled, while rates for those age 65-84 have doubled. The data also shows that in 2023, senior citizens were 42 times more likely to commit suicide than other age groups.

Most of these deaths are attributed to assisted suicide; in 2023, 90% of suicides among those over 85 and 80% of suicides among 65- to 84-year-olds were assisted.

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Per Swiss Info, assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland as long as it is not carried out for “selfish reasons.”

Why It Matters:

Swiss officials include assisted suicide deaths in determining suicide rates, but this isn’t the case everywhere. As lawmakers across the U.S. work to bring assisted suicide to their states, many advocates are taking efforts to ensure that assisted suicide is not counted as suicide; many have turned to labels such as “assisted death” and “dying with dignity” to differentiate and drum up support.

For instance, earlier this year, Illinois lawmakers attempted to pass legislation that stipulated that assisted suicide deaths “do not, for any purposes, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, euthanasia, mercy killing, homicide, murder, manslaughter, elder abuse or neglect, or any other civil or criminal violation under the law.”

Like the American lawmakers, some euthanasia advocates in Switzerland insist that assisted suicide deaths are different than other forms of suicide. “Conscious suicides are different from others,” said Jean-Jacques Bise, Co-President of Exit, a pro-euthanasia organization.

However, Pierre Vandel from Lausanne University Hospital stated that depression and social isolation — not terminal illness or pain — are the primary reasons that people in Switzerland seek assisted suicide. These reasons are also among the driving factors of suicides that are not “assisted.”

The Bottom Line:

A rise in suicide among any age group is a reason to sound the alarm. Yet advocates across the globe aren’t viewing the rise in assisted suicide rates as cause for concern — instead, many are instead pushing for loosened regulations to increase access to death.

Despite what those advocates say, there is never a reason to celebrate death, and little evidence to suggest that those seeking assisted suicide are doing so for reasons that differ from “unassisted” suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy.

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