2025-11-29 from ctvnews.ca

OTTAWA — Most people who chose medical assistance in dying in 2024 had a cancer diagnosis and were over the age of 70, new data from Health Canada shows. The country’s annual report on medical assistance in dying, better known as MAID, shows that more Canadians are choosing assisted dying every year.

In all, 76,475 people received assisted death since it became legal in 2016. In 2024, 16,499 people received MAID — a figure that represents about five per cent of all deaths in Canada. That figure was up 6.9 per cent over 2023, when 15,343 people received assisted death. The number of MAID cases grew by 15.8 per cent between 2022 to 2023.

Another 4,017 people who requested an assisted death in 2024 died before they received MAID, and 1,327 requests were deemed ineligible.

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