Kyodo: Proportion of elderly men living alone expected to surge
The proportion of Japan's elderly male population living alone is expected to surge within the next 20 years, according to a government white paper released Friday. Among men aged 65 or older, the percentage of those living alone is projected to jump to 17.8 percent in 2030 from 11.0 percent in 2010, according to the 2010 white paper on aging society. As for elderly women, the percentage of those living alone is expected to edge up to 20.9 percent from 19.4 percent during the same period, the white paper said. Among factors listed as behind the trend are a rise in single-person households and childless households, declining marriage rates and rising divorces. Single-household elderly tend to become isolated from society and as a result some of them may be left unnoticed even after death while others may end up committing crime, the paper said. The white paper also warned that isolation from society makes these people vulnerable to commercial fraud targeting the elderly, resulting in a sharp increase in such crime in Japan. Given these potential problems, each community should provide support for elderly people to increase their interaction with other people in society, the report said...more...
