ed Soaring lonely deaths

The number of people dying after living alone without any interaction with their neighbors is increasing rapidly.

A report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last week showed that there were 1,245 cases of people dying alone last year. The figure was nearly double that of five years ago ― 682 cases in 2011. People in their 60s or older accounted for 44.1 percent of the total, but 483 of them or 38.8 percent were men in their 40s or 50s.

This means that the problem of dying alone is widening to middle-aged people, driven by personal bankruptcies and family break-ups. This is why the government should take measures even now to prevent the vulnerable from dying alone with no one to take charge of their bodies and help subsidize their funerals.

The surge in lonely deaths is attributed in large part to a sharp rise in the number of poor people amid widening economic polarization. With the spread of nuclear families, familial and social cohesion also has weakened significantly.

Against this gloomy backdrop, the government as well as our society has paid no attention to estranged people, to the degree that there has been no regular research into the issue thus far.

In stark contrast is Japan. The neighboring country judged dying alone as a serious social problem a long time ago and has been mapping out diverse measures at the national level to reduce it. One of the measures is to encourage those living in isolation to return to society by sponsoring various community programs.

All this shows that it’s important to revitalize communities by increasing interaction between residents. It’s natural that closer ties will help prevent people from dying alone.

What is needed urgently is for municipal governments to offer aid to families of those who died after living alone so that their funerals can be held properly.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 80 percent of the people who died alone had family members. But their families refuse to take charge of their bodies due to the cost of funerals and the long-running rupture of relations with the deceased. So help in the form of taxpayer money will help console the spirit of the deceased.

To prevent people from dying alone, social safety nets and welfare systems must be strengthened. But even before that, the government needs to take interest in the issue so that those living alone may have a better quality of life.