Men in 50s, 60s account for 54% of 'lonely deaths': report

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South Korea saw a continuing rise in "godoksa," or lonely deaths, in 2022 and 2023, respectively, with men in their 60s and 50s accounting for over half of them, according to a government report on Thursday.

The Health Ministry defines "lonely death" as those living alone, disconnected from their family, relatives, friends and neighbors, who died alone from suicide, illness or other causes.

There were 3,559 and 3,661 lonely death cases in 2022 and 2023, respectively, the ministry's 2024 report on lonely deaths showed, accounting for 1.04 percent and 0.95 percent of all deaths during the corresponding period. The numbers have been steadily increasing from 3,378 in 2021, 3,279 in 2020 and 2,949 in 2019.

By gender, the number of lonely deaths in men (2,970) was nearly five times that of women (557) in 2022. Men accounted for 84.1 percent of the cases in 2023, again significantly outnumbering women. The gender of those who passed away in 61 cases was unavailable due to a lack of information to verify the gender of the deceased.

By age, those in their 60s accounted for most of the deaths -- 1,110 or 31.4 percent, and 1,146 or 31.6 percent, during the two years -- followed by those in their 50s, 40s, 70s, above 80, 30s and 20s.

The number of lonely deaths of those in their 50s was the next highest at 30.4 percent and 30.2 percent of the total for 2022 and 2023. When the lonely deaths of all those in their 50s and 60s are combined, they account for more than 60 percent of all deaths from loneliness.

The proportion of lonely deaths among men in their 50s and 60s was particularly large, accounting for 54.1 and 53.9 of all lonely deaths in 2022 and last year, respectively.

By area, lonely death cases were most prevalent in Gyeonggi Province, Seoul and Busan, while the central city of Sejong saw the fewest cases.

According to the ministry, divorce, the death of a spouse, chronic illness and housing vulnerability were believed to be the causes for people in their 50s and 60s, whereas difficulties in landing a job or being laid off were believed to be the main causes of lonely deaths for those in their 20s and 30s.

Most of those who passed away alone were found in their homes by landlords, security guards or the apartment building manager, according to the ministry, explaining that lonely deaths have been on the steady rise due to various factors, such as an increase in single-person households. The number of single-person households in the country has been growing from 7.17 million in 2021, to 7.5 million in 2022 and 7.83 million in 2023.

Meanwhile, the percentage of lonely deaths caused by suicide in 2022 and 2023 were 13.9 percent (495) and 14.1 percent (516), respectively, a slight decrease from 16.9 percent (571) in 2021, according to the report.

Bae Hyung-woo, who oversees welfare administration at the ministry, said the ministry would strengthen policies regarding lonely deaths to reduce the number of people dying alone.

The detailed version of the report will be released later this year after further analysis, he said.

If you’re thinking about self-harm or suicide, contact the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s helpline at 109, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please request a translator for English-language services.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)