Photo/Illutration A woman lives alone in an apartment for elderly people in Chiba’s Mihama Ward. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

One in three individuals aged 60 or older does not have a close companion outside of the family, a ratio that underscores the gravity of loneliness among seniors, a survey showed.

The survey results were included in the Cabinet Office’s Annual Report on the Ageing Society that was released on June 11.

The International Comparison Study of Life and Attitude of the Elderly, conducted every five years since fiscal 1980, asks people 60 or older in Japan and three other nations about their life conditions and other topics. In the latest survey held in December and January, valid responses were collected from 1,367 people in Japan.

Asked if they have non-family friends whom they can consult with or help each other, 31.3 percent said they do not, up 5.4 points from 25.9 percent in the previous survey five years earlier.

In the United States, Germany and Sweden, where the same question was posed around the same time, the figures ranged from 9.9 percent to 14.2 percent.

The Japanese ratio of elderly people with no close friends has hovered around 30 percent since the first survey in fiscal 1980.

The novel coronavirus crisis has made it more difficult for people to meet in person. The Cabinet Office said it will increase efforts through the internet to heighten seniors’ participation in local events so that they do not feel all alone.

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