[Editorial] Dying alone

A survey released last week showed that more than 30 percent of salaried workers in their 20s and 30s had no intention of taking care of their parents at home. Asked to cite the reason, about half noted they could barely afford to support their spouse and children, and 29.4 percent said their parents had prepared for their later years.

These results may not have been so surprising but were still disappointing for elderly people, many of whom have spent their savings or other assets to support their grown-up children until or even after marriage. A recent report from a local research institute found that the average net assets held by people in their 60s decreased by a third over the past six years to 263 million won ($240,000) in 2012.

The changing pattern of family life, coupled with a rapidly aging population, has led to an increase in the number of elderly people living alone. According to figures from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, about 20 percent of people aged 65 and above lived in solitude in 2011, up from 14 percent in 1994. The proportion is forecast to continue to grow in the years to come, as life expectancy is further prolonged and family bonds continue loosening.

Senior citizens who live alone tend to be poorer and suffer more from various diseases. More than 60 percent of them belong to the poorest 20 percent by income and more than 40 percent have symptoms of severe depression.

Loneliness often leads to a tragic end ― dying alone. It has become routine news that people’s bodies are found long after their death. In a case that still alarms Korea’s increasingly insensitive public, the skeleton of an elderly woman was discovered in Busan last month, five years after she died. Most people who die alone have no relatives to take care of their bodies.

This gloomy phenomenon, which mirrors the aging society that lacks traditional family values, calls for urgent efforts to cope with it. With government roles limited, it is necessary to tighten community networks to check on elderly people living alone. More fundamentally, individuals may need to give more serious thought to where, how and with whom to spend their later years.