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A total of 21,716 people died at home alone between January and March, and about 80 percent of them were 65 years old or older, according to figures released on May 13.

The numbers were revealed by the National Police Agency during a meeting of the Lower House committee on audit and oversight of administration. The NPA said it was the first time it has released such data.

During the first three months this year, 17,034 people who died at home alone were seniors. The deaths, including suicides, were based on reports that police received from doctors and others.

A simple calculation would mean that an estimated 68,000 elderly people die at home alone annually.

The government intends to use the NPA’s data for more accurate estimates.

The number of deaths increased with age, and 4,922 of all the bodies were 85 years old and older, according to the NPA’s data.

NLI Research Institute in 2011 estimated the annual number of solitary deaths of people 65 and older across Japan was 26,821.

The Tokyo metropolitan government’s medical examiner’s office said 4,207 people 65 and older died alone at their homes in the capital’s 23 wards in 2020. The figure was 1.35 times more than the number in 2015.

Since 2023, the Cabinet Office has held working group meetings to identify the actual situation of solitary deaths in Japan.

Officials have defined solitary death as “the death of a person who has not been cared for by anyone, and the body is found after a certain period of time has elapsed.”

The number of single-person households is increasing and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to social changes. Amid this new environment, problems related to loneliness and isolation, including economic deprivation and suicide, are becoming more apparent.

“The probability of solitary death will certainly increase in society from now on,” health minister Keizo Takemi said during the Lower House meeting. “It is important that we tackle the issue head-on and properly.”

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