Solitary Deaths in Japan top 22,000 in 2025

According to Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA), at least 76,941 people died alone at home across Japan in 2025, and 22,222 of them were not found until at least eight days after their deaths. 

Eight days (or more) is the length of time Japan’s government uses to define an “isolated” or “solitary” death.

The NPA released these annual statistics on solitary deaths for the first time in 2025. 

 

According to the latest NPA report, released on April 14, the number of all solitary deaths was up 921 from 2024 and accounted for nearly 40 percent of all 204,562 deaths handled by police in 2025.

According to members of a Cabinet Office working group assigned to address the issue of solitary deaths in Japan, that length of time — eight days — with no one checking up on or trying to contact the deceased indicates the person had likely been socially isolated.

Among the statistics from the report were:

• Deceased individuals within the working-age population (between 15 and 64) accounted for 17,860, or more than 20 percent, of the solitary deaths.
  
  
• Those aged 65 or older accounted for more than 70 percent of the 22,222 isolated deaths that went unnoticed for eight days or longer.
  
  
• In 7,148 cases, bodies were not found for one month or longer, and in 208 cases, one year or longer.

 

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Source: 

“22,000 solitary deaths at home go unnoticed for at least 8 days,” The Asahi Shimbun, May 12, 2026