Lonely Deaths in Korea, 2017-2023: Records of Social Disconnection

This study analyzed trends and patterns of lonely deaths relative to total deaths and suicides in Korea and compared the characteristics of lonely death cases with those of the general population. We used the Lonely Death Statistics derived from on-site unattended death investigation data from the Korean National Police Agency. The lonely death rate increased from 4.7 to 7.2 per 100,000 people from 2017 to 2023. The rate among males was approximately five times that among females, and those in their 60s showed the highest rate. While both lonely death rates and suicide rates were higher among males, the lonely death rate showed an inverted U-shaped pattern with the highest rate among those in their 50s and 60s, in contrast to the suicide rate, which tended to increase with age, peaking among those aged 80 and over. Housing types associated with single-person living, particularly nonresidential dwellings, were markedly more common among lonely death cases than in the general population. Lonely deaths were increasingly discovered by non-family members; in 2023, only one-fourth were discovered by family, with the rest found by landlords, neighbors, acquaintances, and welfare service workers. Those who died a lonely death had substantially lower incomes than the general population. Our findings suggest that lonely death is not simply a consequence of population aging and increasing single-person households, but rather reflects the growing number of individuals who are disconnected from social networks and support systems.