By this date, how many?

Reported deaths by year

By province & territory

Who receives MAID

Age

Average age crept up gradually in the program's early years — 75.2 (2019) → 75.3 (2020) → 76.3 (2021), as reported at the time — then rose to a median of 77.7 (2023) and 77.9 (2024) once Health Canada switched to reporting medians. Under-18s are not eligible for MAID at any age; the law sets a floor of 18.

Underlying condition

The 2021 report is the most recent to publish a full category breakdown; a person can have more than one condition cited, so shares add to over 100%. Cancer's share has stayed about the same since — 64.1% in 2023, 63.6% in 2024.

Race & ethnicity

Health Canada only began asking this (with the person's consent) starting with 2023 data — no earlier year has any race or ethnicity figures at all.

Representation vs. the census

This compares each group's share of 2023–2024 MAiD recipients to its share of Canada's population in the 2021 census (not a visible minority: 73.5%; Chinese + Korean + Japanese combined, the closest census match to Health Canada's "East Asian" category: 5.6%; all other groups combined: 20.9%). A ratio of 1.0 would mean a group's share of deaths matches its share of the population exactly.

Important confound: MAiD recipients skew heavily toward people 75 and older, and Canada's racialized and immigrant populations skew younger on average than the white population. That age gap alone would produce a lower ratio for non-white groups even with zero difference in access or treatment — so this isn't evidence of targeting by itself. Health Canada doesn't publish age broken out by ethnicity, so there's no way to control for that with public data, and there's no category for specific nationalities (Pakistani, Filipino, etc.) at all — those are folded into "Other" because the individual counts are too small to disclose without risking a patient's privacy. Any number more specific than what's shown here would have to be invented, not sourced.

Not every request becomes a provision

2023 and 2024 use Health Canada's "requests received" figure. 2022 reported "written requests" on a slightly different basis (16,243), so it's left off this chart for a clean comparison — its outcome shares were similar: 86.1% received MAID, 13.3% died before receiving it, 3.5% ineligible, 1.9% withdrew.

Track 1 vs. Track 2: two different sets of safeguards

Since March 2021, Canada has assessed MAiD requests under one of two tracks, depending on whether natural death is expected soon.

Track 1 — natural death "reasonably foreseeable"

The original 2016 eligibility category, and still the large majority of cases — roughly 96% of 2024's total. Two independent assessors, a 10-day reflection period (waivable if death or loss of capacity is imminent), and the person must be able to give final consent immediately before the procedure.

Track 2 — natural death not reasonably foreseeable

Added in 2021 for people with a grievous, irremediable condition whose death isn't imminent. Carries extra safeguards: a minimum 90-day assessment period, at least one assessor with expertise in the specific condition, and a requirement that the person be informed of and seriously offered counselling, disability supports, and palliative care options before proceeding. Mental illness as the sole underlying condition still does not qualify under either track — see the note above.

Track 2 has grown faster, but stays a small share

Ratio of MAiD to total deaths in Canada, by year

Figures are Health Canada's own share-of-all-deaths statistic, not a derived estimate. It's highest in Quebec and British Columbia, lowest in Newfoundland and Labrador. 2016–2018 aren't shown — the program was too new for Health Canada to report this ratio in those years.

Deaths per hour

Each year's official total divided by the hours in that year (2016 counts only the 198 days after June 17, when the law took effect). This is a flat average — actual provisions cluster in daytime and weekday hours, so the real pattern is lumpier.

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