Japan’s elderly population crisis is becoming worse. Over 40,000 individuals died in homes during the first half of 2024. Research by a National Police Agency reveals this alarming trend, closely related to the country’s aging population. According to UN estimates, Japan has the oldest population on Earth.
The numbers of the police agency show a depressing picture of the circumstances: of the 37,227 persons discovered dead in their homes, over 70% were 65 years of age or older. Sadly, authorities lost track of 130 bodies for an entire year, and they discovered over 4,000 people more than a month after they passed away. With 7,498 cases overall, individuals 85 and above were most impacted by this trend, followed by persons 75 to 79 with 5,920 cases.
The present situation emphasizes the critical problems Japan faces as its aging population increases. At the start of this year, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research of Japan projected that 10.8 million old people would be living alone by 2025. Furthermore, experts expect 23.3 million single-person households in the United States by the same year.
The growing issue of loneliness and isolation in the country, exacerbated by the aging population, caused the Japanese government to approve a bill in April to handle it. The law was approved in response to this expanding issue. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida thinks that the dropping birth rate in Japan puts the nation in danger of losing its capacity to run as a society.
Though Japan’s elderly population crisis is terrible, China and South Korea also have population problems similar to those in Japan. Therefore, these patterns highlight the desperate need for global policies to address the social consequences of aging populations.
