Tragedy of aged Japanese who meet death alone

TOKYO — A recent survey by Japan's National Police Agency, or NPA, showed that 17,034 elderly people living alone died at home across the country from January to March.

The survey revealed that 60,466 dead bodies were handled by Japanese police during the first three months of 2024. Of them, 21,716 lived by themselves, including cases of suicide.

Nearly 80 percent of the "lonely deaths", or 17,034 people, were aged 65 and over, including 2,080 people aged between 65 and 69, 3,204 between 70 and 74, 3,480 between 75 and 79, 3,348 between 80 and 84, and 4,922 aged 85 and over.

A lonely death is defined as one in which a person dies without anyone else witnessing it, with a certain period passing before the body is found, according to an interim discussion last year by a Cabinet Office working group assigned to look into the issue.

The NPA is expected to continue collecting the data as part of government efforts to tackle the issue of a rapidly graying society.

The total number of deaths at home among elderly people living alone in 2024 is forecast to reach about 68,000, according to the survey.

"The probability of solitary death will certainly increase in society from now on," Japan's health minister Keizo Takemi said during the Lower House meeting.

"It is important that we tackle the issue head-on and properly," he was quoted by The Asahi Shimbun as saying.

Meanwhile, Japan's economy contracted by a worse-than-expected 0.5 percent, also in the first three months of the year, official government figures showed on Thursday.

GDP in the world's fourth-biggest economy was expected to have shrunk by only 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, according to economist forecasts.

Xinhua - Agencies