Map shows the countries where assisted dying is legal

Today MPs took the historic step towards legalising assisted dying in England and Wales.

A majority of 330 voted in favour of a bill that would give people with fewer than six months to live the right to request and be offered help to die.

A total of 275 MPs voted against the change, which is unlikely to come into effect for another three years as it must pass through several more hurdles.

Assisted dying is already legal in several countries across the world, with Switzerland the first nation to introduce the right as far back as 1942.

It wasn’t until 1997 that other countries – namely Columbia and Luxemburg – followed suit, along with the US states of Vermont and Oregon.

This prompted a steady stream of nations, as well as certain US states and all but one Australian state, to change their laws over the next 17 years.

The assisted dying rules vary in each country, with the bill for England and Wales featuring the strictest in the world, according to its supporters.

Patients would need the approval of two doctors and a High Court Judge, and unlike in some countries, they must be terminally ill.

You can see all the nations where assisted dying is legal in some form and when it was introduced on our interactive map.

Below, meanwhile, we’ve taken a closer look at some of these countries and how the laws work there.

Switzerland

Switzerland legalised assisted dying in 1942 on the condition the motive is not selfish, making it the first country in the world to permit the practice.

Doctors can prescribe drugs and administer them or hand them over for self-administration. A number of Swiss organisations such as Dignitas offer their services to foreign nationals.

United States

Medical aid in dying, also known as physician assisted dying, is legal in 10 states: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, plus the District of Columbia.

Oregon was the first state to legalise it under a law which came into effect in 1997. It allows mentally competent patients who are terminally ill and with less than six months to live to ask for life-ending medication. People from outside Oregon may travel to the state to take advantage of the law.

Are you for or against the assisted dying bill? Vote in Metro’s poll.

Netherlands

The ‘Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act’ came into effect in 2002.

A doctor is immune from punishment for euthanasia and assisted suicide where patients are experiencing ‘unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement’.

Minors can request euthanasia from the age of 12 but require parental permission before the age of 16.

Belgium

Belgium legalised medically assisted dying in 2002 for the terminally ill and for people experiencing unbearable suffering, which includes patients with psychiatric conditions.

Since 2014, those under the age of 18 who are terminally ill are covered by the law as long as they have parental permission.

Canada

Canada introduced ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ in 2016 for those whose death was deemed to be ‘reasonably foreseeable’.

Five years later, the law was extended to permit people with a ‘grievous and irremediable’ medical condition to request assisted dying.

The country has delayed until 2027 a plan to extend medical assistance in dying to include those with a mental illness.

Australia

Voluntary assisted dying for the terminally ill or those with a condition that is causing intolerable suffering is legal in all Australian states apart from the Northern Territory, after being introduced first in Victoria in 2019.

Doctors can prescribe medication for self-administration or administer them where required.

Spain

Spain approved a law in 2021 which allows euthanasia and medically assisted suicide for people with incurable or debilitating diseases who want to end their life.

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