False Claim: More Europeans have been killed by euthanasia since the end of than Nazis

This week in MAiD misinformation is dedicated to Tucker Carlson, who made a number of false claims about MAiD in Canada while interviewing a familiar Canadian purveyor of MAiD misinformation and conspiracy theories.

At 7:34 in the video, Carlson states:

“Just in Europe, the site of the Nazi regime, more Europeans have been killed by the state with euthanasia since the end of the Nazi regime than during it. Hm. That's one of the lessons from the Holocaust apparently we didn’t learn.”

Someone was clearly not paying attention in history class—nor could they be bothered to check the facts. Shocking, we know.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, approximately six million Jewish people were murdered, representing roughly two-thirds of Europe’s pre-war Jewish population.

The Nazis and their allies also murdered approximately 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war, 1.8 million non-Jewish Polish civilians, up to 500,000 Roma, and as many as 300,000 people with disabilities. In addition, the Nazis murdered tens of thousands of gay men, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political opponents, and many others.

Although the precise total is difficult to establish because records were destroyed and some categories overlap, historians estimate that the Nazis and their collaborators deliberately murdered approximately 12 million people.

Based on his statement, Tucker Carlson apparently believes that more than 12 million people have had an assisted death in Europe since the Nazi regime ended in 1945. Sigh…

Currently, established systems of assisted dying operate in six European countries: the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg, and Austria.

Italy permits assisted dying only in narrow circumstances established through Constitutional Court decisions rather than through a comprehensive assisted-dying law. Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court struck down the prohibition on assisted dying, but still lacks a regulated national system through which people can reliably access it.

Portugal has enacted legislation permitting medically assisted death, but legal and administrative delays mean the system is not yet operational. France’s National Assembly has also gave final approval for assisted-dying legislation, but the law has not yet been implemented and may still undergo constitutional review.

Six countries in Europe currently have established and functioning assisted-dying systems. Yes—just six.

Determining exactly how many people have accessed assisted dying across these countries can be challenging because their laws, reporting systems, oversight bodies, and terminology differ. However, this is some of the data we were able to find:

• Switzerland has permitted assisted suicide since 1942, but no complete national data exist from that date. Official statistics record approximately 17,700 assisted deaths among Swiss residents between 1998 and 2024. Unfortunately, that figure does not include non-residents who travelled to Switzerland to seek assistance from organizations such as Dignitas.

• Since the Dutch law took effect on April 1, 2002, approximately 121,050 cases of euthanasia or assisted death had been officially reported in the Netherlands by the end of 2025.5

• Spain’s assisted-dying law came into force in 2021. From then through the end of 2025, 1,668 people received an assisted death, according to Spain’s Ministry of Health.

• Since Luxembourg legalized assisted dying in 2009, 226 assisted deaths had been reported by the end of 2024.

• Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002. By the end of 2025, just over 46,500 cases had been officially reported.

• Since Austria’s assisted-dying law took effect in 2022, 264 assisted deaths had been recorded by the end of 2024.

As the available data quickly shows, the number of assisted deaths in these countries does not come remotely close to 12 million people—or even one million.

That raises an obvious question: Why did Tucker Carlson make such an absurd and easily disproven claim? The most likely answer is that it promotes outrage, fear, and distrust—all of which help sustain the loudest narratives opposing assisted dying.