The number of people opting to end their lives through euthanasia because they are suffering from dementia has tripled since 2020, news website Nu.nl reported on Sunday.
In 2020, 170 people requested and were granted euthanasia because of dementia, and by last year their number had risen to 499, the website said. Most of those who are successful are conscious of what is happening to them and take action before it is too late.
In order to request euthanasia, a patient must be able to make a considered and voluntary request. Just seven patients who were not in such a position were helped to die last year, a figure that has remained stable for years, according to euthanasia monitoring body RTE.
That requires the patient to have made a living will which specifically outlines which situations they don’t want to find themselves in, expert Marcel Gigengack told Nu.nl.
“This could be that you want to end your life when you are in a nursing home, when you no longer recognise your partner, are incontinent and require constant care,” he said.
The increase in euthanasia requests for dementia coincides with the ageing population but has also been boosted by a growing acceptance of a self-determined death, according to the voluntary euthanasia society NVVE.
Some 300,000 people in the Netherlands are thought to have some form of dementia.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide have been permitted in the Netherlands since 2002, but only under strict conditions and depend on doctors deciding that a person’s suffering is unbearable and cannot be relieved.
Nearly 10,000 people died through euthanasia in 2025, but one in three requests are refused. All cases are referred to a special committee and doctors face prosecution if they do not comply with the terms.
