Almost 40,000 people died alone in their homes in Japan during the first half of 2024, a report by the country’s police shows.
Of that number, nearly 4,000 people were discovered more than a month after they died, and 130 bodies went unmissed for a year before they were found, according to the National Police Agency.
Japan currently has the world’s oldest population, according to the United Nations.
The agency hopes its report will shed light on the country’s growing issue of vast numbers of its aging population who live, and die, alone.
Taken from the first half of 2024, the National Police Agency data shows that a total of 37,227 people living alone were found dead at home, with those aged 65 and over accounting for more than 70%.
Why is dying alone presented as something undesirable?
The agency hopes its report will shed light on the country’s growing issue of vast numbers of its aging population who live, and die, alone.
Because it means that they had no one checking up on (or helping) them. It means that they may not have been eating or drinking enough water, or taking their meds as prescribed (if they had dementia). It means they might have fallen and broken their arm or hip, then starved to death.
It means a failure of the social contract that says we care for all people equally no matter their age, and if they need help we will find a way to provide it.
While I get the altruistic impulse to intervene, I do also know that some people want to spend their life alone. Have no desire to have anyone involved in their lives. They’re totally at peace checking out of life by themselves, on their own terms. I do think it’s important to respect their wishes.
Agreed. People should never be forced into LTC homes. They should be offered other options like regular home visits tho, instead of nothing.
A well reasoned reply. With the exception of dementia and presuming they’re of sound mind, aren’t they free to choose to have end-of-life care? Or is such care too expensive, like in the U.S.?
That I do not know. But we see similar stuff happen in Western nations as well, just not as much.
We still treat old people like shit.
Because it implies that they lived alone and uncared for in their final years also.
They should start being more open to immigration. Get Visa for those parents and 7 kids. After a few years those will be workforce.
It’s not a bureaucratic problem, but a cultural one. The culture as a whole is pretty xenophobic
Having lived there for almost 10 years, most of it as a “local”, they also have a very real problem of foreigners coming there and destroying apartments or racking up debt and just leaving.
There’s more going on obviously, like the xenophobia you mention, and just straight up racism, and probably other things. So it’s a little more than just a cultural problem but that is a decent chunk of it.
they also have a very real problem of foreigners coming there and destroying apartments or racking up debt and just leaving.
How’s that different from any other country, though?
It’s not, but you only pointed out xenophobia as the cause.
I’m opening the door a little and pointing out that it’s much bigger than just xenophobia that’s all.
You could have your whole family around you telling you how much they love you and you’d still die alone. It’s solitary and internal stuff.
The only tragedy about dying alone is people putting the last five minutes of their life on some stupid pedestal and then spending their whole god damn lives freaking out and bending over backwards to stop the thing that’s going to happen anyway.
I agree with you actually, death is an inevitability and we’re obsessed with pretending it’s not.
However from a civilization standpoint, maybe we can come up with some sort of alternative than letting folks pass away alone and not be found for weeks. Allowing people to choose the time and manner of their deaths is a start–who wants to painfully die from a metastatic liver tumor?
This will probably be me if I outlive my wife. Is it wrong that the only thing that bothers me about the scenario is the fate of my dogs?
2 options. 1: if possible get a dog door so that your pets can at least get outside in case something happens, become friebdly with your neighbors so they might notice any abnormalities, set up a truat fund for them (like thar lady in the aristocats) 2. Dont outlive your wife
No but you should acquire a friend or two so you can check in on eachother periodically. Yeah I’m a loner too and I know it’s a bother, but just do it. The benefits are many and well documented.
It’s just being pragmatic. I have a pact with a friend that we’ll adopt the others’ dog if something happens to us
I’ve met most of neighbors while walking my dogs. There is a nice backyard but they LOVE going on walks and car rides.
This is very sad.
And coming soon to a developed nation near you!
As an aside, some people with issues have used the falling birthrates around the world as an excuse to push for far-right, draconian policies regulating people’s bodies like banning birth-control, criminalizing abortions, and lowered age-of-consent laws.
We need to all make it very clear when this shit comes up that the problem has far more to do with economics and infrastructure than any social moral failing. We need better heathcare and safety nets so couples can afford to have a baby. We need lowered housing costs so people aren’t afraid they will have to raise a family in a single-bedroom studio apartment. We need paid time off and parental leave. We need mass-transit so a family with two working parents don’t also have to afford two cars. It’s fucking ASBURD how much American families are getting fleeced.
If our policies and politics actually cared about taking care of our future, they would be making it easier for families to have babies and adjusting the world, not still expecting people to have to work two-jobs for twenty years to save up enough for a downpayment on a shitty house.
Agreed.
So, like, not all at once. This is sad and disturbing, but I definitely read that headline wrong…
Imagine the carnage, if the headline was correct the way you read it first…
It’s how I read it as well and we do have some cults here so my mind went to a Jonestown type of situation.
still. 10%
Well it does correlate with my estimated percentage of people who are assholes. So there is that…
