Seoul Spending $327 Million To Stop "Lonely Deaths" Epidemic. What It Is

Authorities in South Korea's capital city Seoul plan to spend 451.3 billion won (around $327 million) in the next five years to tackle "lonely deaths" - a crisis that sees thousands of its citizens, mostly middle-aged men, dying alone every year after getting unnoticed by their family and friends.

Known as 'godoksa' in Korea, these deaths are part of a larger problem of loneliness and isolation in the country, as the government is making all possible efforts to fight it. Sometimes, it takes days and even weeks for the authorities to find these bodies, CNN reported.

Seoul authorities, while announcing the $327 million initiative this week, stated that they want to "create a city where no one is lonely."

Apart from this, they will provide loneliness counsellors on a 24/7 hotline and an online platform for similar counselling, besides other follow-up measures like in-person visits and consultations.

In an official release, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the city authorities will mobilise all its municipal capacity to help the people feeling lonely to heal and "return to society". "Loneliness and isolation are not just individual problems, but tasks that society must solve together," Oh Se-hoon said.

The city also plans to introduce several other measures like expanded psychological services, green spaces, nutritional meal plans for middle-aged and elderly people as well as a dedicated "search system" for identifying the isolated residents who are seeking help.

Also, there will be activities carried out to encourage people to venture outside and connect with others. Among these are sports, gardening, book clubs and more, the CNN report said.

As per the latest figures by South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of "lonely deaths" reached 3,661 last year, significantly higher from 3,559 in 2022 and 3,378 in 2021.

However, part of that increase might be due to the broader definition of "lonely death" by the ministry concerned. To qualify as a 'lonely death,' a body had to be found only after a certain amount of time earlier, but the term now is applied to any individual, who stays in social isolation, away from family and relatives and dies by suicide or illness.

South Korea's demographic crisis could be another factor behind this rise. A downtrend in the birth rate and ageing population shows that there have been consistently more deaths in the country than births in recent years. The overall death rate in South Korea, including "lonely deaths," is rising. Also, men in their 50s and 60s made up over half the total group.