International Legal Landscape

Physician acceptance of assisted dying varies enormously across countries, from over 80% in Belgium and the Netherlands to only 2% in Japan. Across multiple countries, physicians consistently show higher support for legalisation in principle than personal willingness to perform assisted dying. In Canada, the majority of assisted deaths are performed by only 2% of all physicians, with assisted dying becoming a focused area of specialisation. A Finnish citizen initiative calling for euthanasia legalisation was submitted to parliament in May 2024, following a prior initiative that was rejected in 2018.