Nearly 40,000 People Died Alone At Home In Japan So Far This Year: Police

Older Japanese women eat ice pops in a suburban Tokyo park on July 27, 2023. (Credit: RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 37,000 people living alone in Japan were found dead in their homes during the first six months of 2024 — including 130 whose bodies went undiscovered for more than a year.

The startling figures were released by Japan's National Police Agency to highlight the problem of unattended deaths among the country's aging population, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Thursday.