After France adopted a bill to allow assisted dying on Wednesday, here’s a look at which European countries already authorise the terminally ill to end their lives.
France on Wednesday moved closer to joining the ranks of countries that guarantee the right to assisted dying for adults suffering from an incurable condition, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron.
The move puts France in a group of European countries that allow assisted dying.
Some can permit euthanasia, when a caregiver induces a patient’s death at their request. Others, in some cases, grant permission for assisted dying, when someone helps a patient end their own life.
Here’s a breakdown of which other European countries allow it.
READ ALSO: France’s parliament adopts assisted dying law
What’s the new French law?
Following the vote Wednesday, French law establishes a right to assisted dying for some adults suffering from an incurable condition.
They must be capable of expressing themselves in a “free and informed” manner and be suffering from physical pain.
This pain must either be unresponsive to treatment or, in the patient’s view, unbearable, where they have chosen not to receive or to stop receiving treatment.
A physician is responsible for verifying the patient’s eligibility, before a panel assesses the criteria.
Ultimately, the doctor makes the decision alone, and the patient may withdraw consent at any time.
The patient will administer a lethal substance themselves, with exceptions for those who are physically unable to be helped by a health worker.
Pioneers: Netherlands, Belgium
In the Netherlands, euthanasia has been legal but strictly regulated since April 2002.
A doctor and an independent expert must determine that the patient is suffering unbearably and without hope of improvement.
This right was extended in 2023 to children under 12.
Belgium followed the Netherlands later in 2002 by adopting euthanasia with similar caveats to the Dutch.
In 2014 it became the first in the world to allow terminally ill children of all ages to also request euthanasia.
Luxembourg decriminalised euthanasia and assisted dying in 2009.
Switzerland: go-to destination
Switzerland prohibits euthanasia but has allowed assisted dying since World War II, its criminal code outlawing its incitement or assistance only “from selfish motives”.
Medical ethics codes are in place and the patient is helped to die by associations. Many Europeans go there to be helped to die.
The parliament in neighbouring Austria also voted to legalise assisted dying for those with a serious or terminal illness in 2021.
READ ALSO: What methods of assisted dying are legal in Switzerland?
Spain: strict conditions
Spain adopted a law in 2021 allowing euthanasia and medically assisted dying.
The conditions are strict: the applicant must be capable and conscious, the request must be made in writing, reconfirmed later, and approved by an evaluation committee.
In March, a 25-year-old woman who had been paraplegic since a failed suicide attempt underwent euthanasia in a case that has divided Spanish society.
Her case was the first to reach a Spanish court for consideration since Spain became one of the few countries to legalise euthanasia in 2021, a law fiercely opposed by the Catholic Church.
Moving to regulation in Italy
In 2019, the Constitutional Court outlined the conditions under which a patient could access assisted dying without the helper facing criminal charges.
But it remains difficult to apply as the Italian parliament has not adopted the necessary legislation.
As a result, a pro-euthanasia association pushed for the adoption of regional rules, with Tuscany being the first last year to speed up and simplify the procedure.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition challenged Tuscany’s regulation.
In 2025 Italian writer Daniele Pieroni was the first to die through medically assisted suicide under Tuscany’s right-to-die law.
Slovenia, Portugal suspend law
The Slovenian parliament in July last year legalised assisted dying for lucid, terminally ill patients if their suffering was unbearable and all treatment options had been exhausted.
But Slovenians in a November referendum voted to suspend the law.
Portugal adopted the decriminalisation of euthanasia in 2023, but the Constitutional Court last year decided it should not come into force.
New debate in Britain
UK lawmakers will again debate legalising assisted dying in September.
Members of the House of Commons last year voted to allow adults with an incurable illness to take substances that cause their death in England and Wales, but the unelected upper house scuppered the bill.
Lawmakers in the self-governing British dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man have already approved euthanasia legislation, but the moves are still awaiting royal assent.
Lawmakers in Edinburgh in March rejected a bill in the devolved Scottish parliament to legalise assisted dying.
