An increase in suicide cases in Germany and a recovery in the “market” for providing death services

11,334 people died by suicide in Germany in 2025. This represents an increase of 9.3 percent compared to the previous year, and an increase of 15.6 percent compared to the average of the past ten years, according to the Federal Statistical Office. As in previous years, suicides accounted for 1.1 percent of the total causes of death.

Statisticians added today, Tuesday (October 13, 2026), that the relative distribution between men (69.2 percent) and women (30.8 percent) remained relatively stable. However, the increase in the number of suicide cases over the past three years is mainly due to the increase in the number of cases among women (an increase of 17.9 percent), while the increase among men was less (5.8 percent).

The Foundation for Depression and Suicide Prevention expressed concern about these numbers. The foundation in Leipzig explained that the aging of society plays a role in this development, as do cases of assisted suicide.

She added that cases of assisted suicide have increased significantly since 2020. Last year, 1,287 men and women resorted to the services of organizations specialized in accompanying the dying, compared to 1,200 people the previous year.

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that every human being has the right guaranteed by the Constitution to end his life himself. The only condition is that the person wishing to die makes this decision of his own free will, without external pressure or because he suffers from severe depression.

At the same time, the court called on the legislator to establish a legal framework for assisted suicide that guarantees freedom of decision and prevents abuse.

Loneliness or psychological disorders

The foundation's president, Ulrich Hegerl, warned: "If resorting to assisted suicide becomes normalized or normalized, the threshold for doing so will decrease, and the number of tragic, preventable suicides will increase."

The psychiatrist added that such a development may contribute to an increase in suicide cases that are not based on a free and responsible decision, such as cases resulting from loneliness or psychological disorders.

He said: "Experiences in the Netherlands point in this direction. In Germany, people have the right to benefit from assisted suicide even in the absence of a terminal illness or incurable suffering, and they are not even obliged to justify their desire to die."

Hegerl continued, "I remember patients suffering from depression and having suicidal thoughts telling me that they did not commit suicide only because they did not want to cause this to their family."

Therefore, the doctor called for strengthening prevention efforts, through cooperation between cities and municipalities with family doctors, raising public awareness, and providing training courses for priests, teachers, media workers, care staff, and police. He also stressed the importance of supporting people who wish to die and their relatives.

Recovery in the burial services market?

For its part, the German Patient Protection Foundation also spoke of an urgent need to act. Its president, Eugene Bresch, noted that the rate of assisted suicides is on the rise.

Assisted-dying providers, as well as a growing number of undertakers, doctors and solopreneurs, are increasingly entering this market, he said. “The death-based business model already brings more than six million euros a year into their coffers,” he added.

Breisch called on the German parliament to "finally ban monetization of assisted suicide services." He also demanded that those providing this assistance be subject to clearer criminal legal accountability.