According to data from the Japan National Police Agency, a total of 76,941 people were found dead alone at home across Japan in 2025.
This figure accounts for nearly 1/3 of the total 204,562 bodies handled by police nationwide last year.
Data shows that people aged 65 and over account for 76.6% of cases of death alone at home. A total of 58,919 elderly people belong to this group, an increase of 875 cases compared to 2024.
Most cases are detected relatively early even though the person died alone.
28,398 people were detected on the day believed to have died or on the following day. There were 15,865 cases found after 2-3 days and 10,456 cases detected within 4-7 days.
However, there are still many cases that are only detected after a long time.
According to NPA data, there are 22,222 bodies, equivalent to 28.9% of the total number of cases, found at least 8 days after death. The Japanese government calls this phenomenon "koritsushi", meaning death in isolation.
Among the "koritsushi" cases, people aged 65 and over account for 71.6%.
Notably, at least 7,148 people died more than a month before being discovered. Of these, 208 cases were not found in more than a year.
The data also shows a large disparity between men and women in cases of prolonged unreported deaths.
Men accounted for 17,620 isolated deaths, about 3.8 times higher than women.
This is the second time the Japanese government has announced this type of data since last year, in an effort to clarify the reality of solitary death in society.
Experts believe that the trend of increasing one-person households, the decrease in marriage rates and the aging population are the main reasons leading to this phenomenon.
In addition, increasing social isolation, especially among older men, is becoming a worrying issue in Japan.
