"82% of Elder Abuse Victims Are Women... Most Perpetrators Are Sons or Spouses"

Seoul City Reports 1,963 Elder Abuse Cases Last Year... 72% Involving Abuse Lasting Over One Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] It was revealed that four out of five elderly victims of abuse last year were women. The perpetrators were mainly sons and spouses.

On the 15th, Seoul City analyzed the operation reports of three elderly protection specialized agencies it operates in commemoration of 'World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.' According to the analysis, the number of elder abuse reports received in Seoul in 2019 totaled 1,963 cases, which is 3.3 times higher compared to 590 cases in 2005 when related statistics were first compiled.

Considering that the population aged 65 and over in Seoul is approximately 1,478,600, this means that there were 13.3 cases of abuse per 10,000 elderly people.

Among the elderly abuse victims, 81.5% were women, and 73.1% of the victims lived with their children or spouses.

The perpetrators were predominantly male, accounting for 78.3%. In particular, abuse by family members accounted for 89.1%, with sons at 37.2%, spouses at 35.4%, and daughters at 11.8%, in that order. In households composed only of elderly couples, there is also concern about elder-to-elder (nono) abuse.

Elder abuse mostly occurred within the home, accounting for 92.3%, and 67.5% of the abused elderly were exposed to abuse at least once a month (including daily, at least once a week, and at least once a month), showing a tendency for abuse to be continuous rather than one-time incidents.

The duration of abuse was '5 years or more' for 38.5% of cases, '1 year to less than 5 years' for 33.6%, and '1 month to less than 1 year' for 15.0%. Cases lasting more than one year accounted for 72.1%, indicating that abuse is not a one-time occurrence but happens repeatedly and continuously.

Last year, there were 535 cases of abuse, but the total number of abuse types was 2,142, indicating many overlapping acts. Among these, emotional abuse accounted for 49.2%, and physical abuse for 40.3%, with most cases involving both physical and emotional abuse simultaneously.

Seoul City analyzed that as aging accelerates, the number of elderly people with poor health or weakened physical and cognitive functions is increasing, leading to complex elder abuse issues.

The proportion of the population aged 65 and over in Seoul increased by 8.0 percentage points from 7.2% in 2005 to 15.2% last year, and the proportion of late elderly aged 85 and over among those aged 65 and over also rose from 5.8% to 8.6% during the same period. Experts explain that late elderly people have a high dependency on social and family support, which increases the stress and burden on caregivers, potentially leading to abuse.

Jung Jin-woo, Seoul City Welfare Planning Officer, said, "There is a need to shift from a report-centered policy to a community-based elder abuse prevention system," adding, "We will review existing systems and improve areas that need supplementation to create a Seoul without elder abuse."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.