The number of clinical autopsies has been decreasing significantly in most European countries, with great variability of autopsy rates, from 3% to 40%.
Nevertheless, it is still performed as a tool for quality assessment, as teaching method, as last resource for undiagnosed cases and to gain insight into disease pathophysiology.
There are variable reasons for the decrease in autopsy demand. The most important one is perhaps the improvement of diagnostic capacity of complementary tests, but also the increase in the number of lawsuits against physicians and the fear of diagnostic error.
Pathologists also play a role in this decline, since autopsy activity is frequently regarded as a low priority and commonly assigned to low experienced residents, mostly because of the overload of work with increasing complexity.

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