It is always a bad sign when journalists, sent to cover a newsworthy event, start writing about themselves rather than the event itself. We hesitated, therefore, before posting this message about the “hits” to our own website. However, the most recent figures do indicate a number of trends that are indicative of the international interest in Voluntary Assisted Dying in Switzerland.
In the first three months of 2026 we received 5,668 visits to our website. These visitors read an average of four pages each, so our “page hits” were 22,696. Such numbers are not large, though they do imply an annual total of over 90,000 and are strikingly more than the 750 total estimated for “foreign” Swiss VADs during the whole year.
However, the figures are 70% higher than in the first quarter of 2025. There has been a marked shift in where the visitors are coming from, too. The greatest number are from the USA, 38%, followed by the UK with 26%.
There has been a very big increase in the number of visitors from the rest of the world, with Far Eastern countries making up most of the difference. Countries like China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and India were all in our top twenty, with others like South Korea and Vietnam not far behind. It seems amazing that, in spite of the cost, so many people should be investigating the possibility of a VAD in Switzerland.
The most popular pages continue to be the reports of our visits to Pegasos, Athanasios, Dignitas and Lifecircle. Our note about Phoenix Care (we have not yet visited them) was seen by 300 visitors.
The questions raised concerned eligibility, age, travelling alone, Parkinsons, Dementia and fees. Daniel Kahneman’s final letter (Appendix 3) was read by 362 visitors, a figure likely to be exceeded by Appendix 5 which gives our forecasts for the current year as a whole.
