#WorldatFive: “Kodokushi” — a lonely death — is an increasing feature of an ageing, urbanised Japanese society in which more and more people live and die alone and unnoticed, strangers even to their closest neighbours thetimes.co.uk/article/cleani…
The situation has been made all the more extreme by the pandemic, which has reduced contact even between people who were formerly close.
There are no national statistics or an agreed upon definition of kodokushi but the government counted 5,500 such deaths in central Tokyo in 2018, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year — and that was before the pandemic.
In 2005 the OECD found that among countries surveyed Japan had the highest proportion of men who “rarely or never spend time with friends, colleagues or others in social groups” — 17 per cent.
More and more people are living alone as “lifetime singles”. Projections suggest that by 2040 two fifths of households will consist of only one person.
Read the full story: thetimes.co.uk/article/cleani…
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