The number of citizens dying alone in South Korea or the so-called godoksa phenomenon is increasing. This is said to be a consequence of the country’s rapidly aging population.
A lonely death is often interpreted as when a resident is found dead and hasn’t been known for days or even months. It usually occurs in older people who have been cut off from their families, relatives and neighbors for a long time.
But in Korea this trend is also more common in younger groups. A new government study finds that more lone deaths occur among middle-aged men than among the elderly or women.
According to a report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on December 14, the number of men who die alone is four times higher than that of women. About 500 women died of loneliness each year between 2018 and 2021, while more than 2,000 men died, with the highest number reaching 2,817 in 2021.
What happened?
According to purge, poverty and unemployment specialists who study the godoksa phenomenon, Koreans who die alone, regardless of gender, middle-aged men seem to have a harder time coping with this pressure.
“Around 90 percent of the men I’ve worked with have lived alone since their divorce and have lost touch with their children. They’re either unemployed or can barely make ends meet working on construction sites. All of these factors seem to make them feel that life has less meaning,” said Kim Sae-byu.
Kim also cited heavy drinking and ill health as common characteristics of men who die alone.
“Many people have had alcohol-related illnesses such as cirrhosis of the liver or, in some cases, died after a drunken fall,” he said.
Song In-joo, a researcher at the Seoul Welfare Foundation who specializes in social isolation and loneliness mortality, noted that men who live alone suffer from a deeper sense of loneliness than women, both in terms of emotional and physical isolation. .
“Whether due to early retirement or divorce, men tend to experience deeper isolation than women. Losing their position in society and family is the main trigger of social isolation for middle-aged men “, he has declared.
The researchers also say that these men, many of whom are unaccustomed to doing household chores, are at an increased risk of self-neglect, a behavioral condition in which a person fails to meet their essential physical and psychological needs, which can lead to chronic disease.
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