introduction
Please refrain from going out unless necessary, and if you do go out, wear a mask and keep a sufficient distance from others.
From 2020 to 2021, when the new coronavirus infection swept the world, a state of emergency was declared in Japan, and although it was not a strict lockdown, people were deprived of the social connections they had previously taken for granted. I was disappointed. As the semi-enforced “remote lifestyle” dragged on, many people felt lonely, regardless of whether they lived alone.
This experience taught me that loneliness is not just for people who live alone, and at the same time, it also served as an opportunity for all of us living in society to face the fact that loneliness cannot be completely resolved. Masu. Shut out loneliness from our lives.
According to a Cabinet Office survey conducted in 2018, the number of hikikomori in a broad sense in Japan includes both semi-recluses who go out only for hobbies and semi-recluses who go out only for hobbies. include. For example, someone leaves home only to go to a convenience store near their home. People who never leave the house even if they leave their rooms. It is estimated that around 613,000 people rarely leave their rooms.1
According to another recent government report2, The number of suicides in 2022 was 21,881, an increase of 4.2% from the previous year. By gender, the number of suicides among men was approximately 2.1 times that of women, an increase for the first time in 13 years, and the number of suicides among women increased for the third consecutive year.
According to a survey on lonely deaths that covered data from April 2015 to March 2022, the average age of lonely deaths for both men and women was 62 years old, much younger than the average life expectancy, and 40% of all lonely deaths It was revealed that he died alone. Among the working age population.3
According to data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of child abuse cases handled by 225 child guidance centers nationwide in fiscal 2021 (April 2021 to March 2022) was 207,660, a record high.Four
Loneliness and social isolation are two of the factors that contribute to these tragedies, as well as problems such as health problems, fraudulent business practices, and drug addiction, such as seclusion, suicide, lonely death, and abuse. Looking at the number of people in this situation, it is clear that even after accounting for some overlap, a significant number of people are affected by loneliness and social isolation.
There is a theory that loneliness and social isolation have existed since humans first chose to live in groups and cooperate to make life safer, more efficient, and otherwise better. In other words, social problems have been around for as long as society itself.
Loneliness and social isolation are problems that affect all humans, regardless of factors such as gender, age, or social status. Therefore, we chose an image of the Earth for the cover of the first report in this series, as a symbol of human history.
In this series of reports, we deepen our understanding of loneliness and social isolation and consider what businesses can do about it.
Please note that in this series we refer to isolation as “social in line with the UN and EU”.