According to  data  presented by the Ministry of Health, 565 euthanasias were performed in Spain in 2025, 32.6% more than in 2024 when 426 were performed.

It is worth remembering that, since the euthanasia law was approved in Spain in March 2021, after its entry into force 3,716 requests for euthanasia have been registered, of which 1,668 have finally been carried out.

This information comes just three months after the death by euthanasia of Noelia, a girl with serious psychological problems, whose father fought in court to prevent his daughter from being subjected to this practice.

This case  sparked a wide debate in Spanish society about the limits of personal autonomy and the decision-making capacity of a person with serious mental problems.

Last year,  1,284 requests for euthanasia were registered  . The autonomous community with the most requests was Catalonia, with 6.14 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Navarre, with 5.41, and the Basque Country, with 5.13. The Spanish average was 2.61 requests per 100,000 people.

Of all the applications submitted, 157 were denied and 91 were voluntarily revoked by the applicants.

The people who made the most requests were patients suffering from oncological pathologies (37%), followed by patients suffering from neurological diseases, who were ultimately the ones who received the benefit of euthanasia in a larger percentage, being 46% of those euthanized.

Almost a third of the euthanasia requests were not carried out because the applicants died before receiving it; in most of these cases they were cancer patients.

Of the people who received euthanasia in 2025, eight out of ten were over 60 years old and a third were over 80 years old.

Despite the increase in requests, Spain ranks lower than other countries in the number of euthanasia procedures performed. By country, the number of deaths by euthanasia was: 0.13% in Spain (565 deaths), 5.96% in the Netherlands (10,341), 5.10% in Canada (16,499), and 4% in Belgium.

The Spanish Ministry of Health is already preparing a  new protocol  to shorten the processing times for euthanasia in the cases it considers most urgent and to prevent applicants from dying before receiving the service.

Bioethical assessment

The phenomenon of increased requests for and executions of euthanasia in countries where it is legalized is due to several factors that must also be considered in the Spanish case:

First, there is a lack of quality palliative care accessible to all patients suffering from incurable illnesses with associated suffering and dependency. Loneliness, fear of experiencing pain, and the uncertainty of facing suffering without the necessary support are decisive factors in considering euthanasia.

Secondly, its legalization alters many people’s ethical perceptions of a non-medical practice that involves killing a suffering patient. The initial rejection of an intervention aimed at causing death turns into acceptance after legal permissiveness.

Third, a “mimetic effect” may be established, which causes the extension and generalization of its use to attract more and more candidates for the euthanasia option, in the absence of effective and accessible alternatives.

Finally, the promotion of euthanasia by healthcare systems, which present it to patients as just another option, reduces the need to dedicate costly healthcare resources to incurable patients, offering a quick and inexpensive alternative such as euthanasia, although deeply undignified.

Human life possesses an inherent dignity that demands care and support, especially in situations of vulnerability. Valuable yet priceless, it must be protected from conception until natural death, without exceptions or distortions.

Julio Tudela. Ester Bosch. Bioethics Observatory. Catholic University of Valencia