Lonely death

Lonely death or kodokushi (孤独死) refers to a Japanese phenomenon of people dying alone and remaining undiscovered for long periods of time. Although the term was first coined in Japan, lonely deaths have become an increasing problem in Japan and around the world, attributed to economic troubles, people having less or no children, and increasingly elderly population. In Japan, it is also known as koritsushi (孤立死) "isolation death", and dokkyoshi (独居死) "live alone death".

Psychological reasons for the increase in lonely deaths include social apathy and life stress. Social isolation is often used as a coping mechanism to avoid stressful social situations. Other factors include the decay of traditional social bonds, such as family, neighborhood and company ties.

Companion robots have been proposed as a solution to prevent lonely deaths.