CNN: Middle-aged men in South Korea are dying ‘lonely deaths’
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There is a problem in South Korea: thousands of middle-aged people, many of them single, die alone every year, often undetected for days or weeks.
These are “godoxa”, or “lonely deaths,” a widespread phenomenon that the government has been trying to combat for years as its population ages rapidly.
According to South Korean law, a “lonely death” is when a person living alone, cut off from family or relatives, dies by suicide or illness, and his body is found only after “a certain amount of time.”
This issue has gained nationwide attention over the past decade as the number of lonely deaths has increased. Factors behind this trend include the country’s demographic crisis, gaps in social security, poverty and social exclusion, all of which have become more prominent since the Covid-19 pandemic.
There were 3,378 such deaths in the country last year, up from 2,412 in 2017, according to a report released last Wednesday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The ministry’s report was the first since the government passed the Lonely Death Prevention Act in 2021.
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