The Era of 10 Million Single-Person Households... How to Prevent Solitary Death?

The Rise of Single-Person Households... Seoul Districts Take Measures Including 'Creating Spaces for Conversation and Meals Together' Alongside Situation Assessment

We are in an era of 10 million single-person households.

The number of single-person households is gradually increasing among both the younger generation and the elderly. Especially with the rapid aging trend, the pace of single-person households is accelerating even more.

Amid this, solitary deaths occasionally occur, prompting measures to prevent them.

Seoul's autonomous districts are taking steps to prepare preventive measures to address the issues of single-person households in advance.

Gwanak-gu began investigating the actual conditions of single-person households from the 6th elected administration. When single-person households such as university students and office workers exceed 40%, they started collecting basic data to help them live as members of society.

Recently, other districts like Yongsan-gu and Dobong-gu have also begun assessing the actual conditions of single-person households, especially focusing on elderly households.

Gangbuk-gu has prepared programs such as shopping together and dining together for single-person households. The ideas selected from the contest include 2 from the citizen proposal category and 3 from the staff proposal category, totaling 5. Among these, 3 ideas received excellence awards, and 2 received encouragement awards.

In the citizen proposal category, the winners were ▲Gangbuk Style! OB and YB Meet (Excellence, total score 430) and ▲For You in Difficulty, Gangbuk-gu Approaches Directly! (Encouragement, total score 339). In the staff proposal category, the winners were ▲Not Eating Alone but Eating Together (Excellence, total score 462), ▲Let's Share Shopping Baskets (Excellence, total score 440), and ▲Late Night Restaurant After Work (Encouragement, total score 339).

Earlier, the district held a contest from June 26 to July 31 on the theme of resolving inconveniences for single-person households. The contest received 53 ideas (24 from citizens and 29 from Gangbuk-gu staff) for support policies in four areas: safety, care, loneliness, and housing. After preliminary review by the relevant departments and internal evaluation, 7 ideas were selected as finalists.

On September 4, the final evaluation was conducted, comprehensively assessing the necessity, effectiveness, feasibility, creativity, and concreteness of the 7 ideas, selecting 5 winning entries. The final evaluation included 4 external members such as professors from the Department of Social Welfare at Sungshin Women's University and Seoul Cyber University, and heads of single-person household support centers from Gangbuk-gu and Gwangjin-gu.

The citizen excellence award went to ‘Gangbuk Style! OB and YB Meet,’ where young and middle-aged single-person households explore local attractions and engage in activities like exercise together. The staff excellence awards went to ‘Let's Share Shopping Baskets,’ a joint purchase and sharing support project for single-person household groceries, and ‘Not Eating Alone but Eating Together,’ a program for single-person household meals and network formation by neighborhood.

Additionally, the citizen encouragement award was given to ‘For You in Difficulty, Gangbuk-gu Approaches Directly!’ for single-person households and vulnerable groups, and the staff encouragement award went to ‘Late Night Restaurant After Work,’ which supports meals for single-person households residing in Gangbuk-gu.

A Seoul city district official said, "Single-person households are now the trend," adding, "It is necessary to create an environment where they can live together as members of society."

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