Yangcheon-gu, Detecting Electricity and Communication Usage to Prevent Solitary Deaths in Single-Person Households

Real-time Analysis of Power and Communication Usage to Detect Risk Signs, Immediate Check-in '1-Person Household Care Service'... Utilizing Established Tech Infrastructure for 300 Socially Isolated 1-Person Households Without Privacy Intrusion

Yangcheon-gu (District Mayor Lee Gi-jae) announced that it will operate the "Single-Person Household Check-in Service" starting this month to prevent solitary deaths caused by the increase in single-person households and accelerated aging by analyzing electricity and communication data usage to proactively detect warning signs of crisis.

The "Single-Person Household Check-in Service" is an AI system that monitors electricity usage, mobile phone call and message activity in real time based on electricity and communication data. When a risk signal such as a sudden drop in usage is detected, it immediately sends alerts to the Seoul Welfare Foundation control center, the district office, and the local community service center staff to check on the individual and connect necessary resources.

Since it uses existing electricity and communication infrastructure to check on individuals without directly interfering with their daily lives, it has the advantage of minimizing privacy concerns.

The support targets are 300 single-person households at risk of social isolation, among which households with Korea Electric Power Corporation remote meters (electricity data) installed and SKT · KT subscribers (communication data) are included. Based on last year's survey on socially isolated single-person households, the district plans to provide the service mainly to high-risk households (priority 1) identified and single-person households recommended by local community centers (priority 2), following welfare counseling and consent procedures for personal data provision.

Meanwhile, last year, the district more than doubled the beneficiaries of the "AI Check-in System," which automatically calls vulnerable groups once a week to check on their well-being, from 200 households to 540 households.

Additionally, the "Smart Plug," which detects crisis signals by sensing changes in electricity and illumination levels, was expanded from 160 households to 247 households. Furthermore, through the "Our Neighborhood Care Group," where local residents regularly call or visit neighbors, about 1,800 households at risk of solitary death were managed in the first half of this year alone.

Lee Gi-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, "We are promoting the 'Single-Person Household Check-in Service' to actively utilize technological infrastructure to protect residents' privacy while providing effective support measures to prevent social isolation and solitary deaths." He added, "We will continue to do our best to establish a meticulous care system for socially isolated households in advance so that Yangcheon-gu can become a warm city."

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