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Healthy people are travelling abroad for assisted suicide simply 'weary of life,' research has revealed.

Around 16 per cent of the people who use 'right-to-die' organisations such as Dignitas have no underlying health problems listed on their death certificates.

And women, highly educated, divorced and rich people are more likely to die from assisted suicide, the new report by researchers in Switzerland claims.

Loneliness and feeling unloved are twice as likely to kill you as being fat.

The study by researchers from the University of Bern revealed 84 per cent of cases had at least one underlying cause of death listed on the death certificate.

The majority of 25-64 year-olds had cancer (57 per cent) and 21 per cent had diseases of the nervous system but many had no underlying issues – which researchers suggest shows they are 'weary of life'.

Eleven had a mood disorder listed as the first underlying cause, and three had a mental or behavioural disorder.

While for 65-94 year-olds cancer was the common underlying cause (41 per cent), followed by circulatory (15 per cent) and diseases of the nervous system (11 per cent) – 30 people had a mood disorder, and six had another mental or behavioural disorder.

The research, published online in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was gathered from anonymous data on 1,301 cases of assisted suicide at three right-to-die organisations between 2003 and 2008.

Other influential factors include religion, with people of no faith being six times more likely to choose assisted suicide than Roman Catholics, The Times reported.

For all causes, except Parkinson's disease, the percentage of assisted suicides was higher for women than men.

Lead researcher Professor Matthias Egger said: "The higher rates among the better educated and those living in neighbourhoods of higher socio-economic standing does not support the 'slippery slope' argument but might reflect inequities in access to assisted suicide."

Euthanasia is prohibited in Switzerland, but the penal code states that assisted suicide is legal if no selfish interests are involved.