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Canada’s Assisted Dying Program Nears 100,000 Deaths as 2024 Data Show Faster Access and High-Volume Providers

Planned expansion to mental-illness-only cases remains postponed until March 2027 pending a safeguards review.

Overview

  • Health Canada’s latest report records 16,499 MAID deaths in 2024, representing 5.1% of all deaths that year and bringing the cumulative total to 76,475 through the end of 2024.
  • Advocacy groups and media analyses project Canada will surpass 100,000 cumulative MAID deaths in 2026, with some estimates pointing to mid-to-late April.
  • An Ontario advisory report found 219 people died within 24 hours of requesting MAID in 2023, with roughly 30% occurring the same day, following the 2021 removal of a 10-day reflection period and with exceptions that can shorten the 90-day track.
  • Federal data show more than 2,200 clinicians provided MAID in 2024, including about 100 high-volume providers who each performed over 30 procedures and accounted for 37.5% of that year’s cases.
  • Provincial case summaries describe consent and capacity concerns, including an elderly woman who withdrew her request before later being approved and a patient roused to confirm consent, as families like that of 26-year-old Kiano Vafaeian press for tighter safeguards.