Japan Sees Higher Percentage Of Deaths At Home In Pandemic's 2 Years
Japanese government statistics show the percentage of people who died at home rose over the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health ministry statistics released last month show 1,439,856 people died in Japan in 2021.
Most deaths were in hospitals, accounting for 65.9 percent, followed by individuals' homes at 17.2 percent and homes for the elderly at 10 percent.
The percentage of people who died at home had been hovering around 13 percent between 2000 and 2019.
But the figure rose to 15.7 percent in 2020 and 17.2 percent last year. This marks a 3.6-point increase since 2019.
Fatalities at hospitals last year fell 5.4 points from 2019.
The health ministry says more people spend the final stage of their lives at home as hospitals and facilities for the elderly restrict meetings with family due to the coronavirus. It says another reason for people dying at home is that they couldn't get admitted to hospitals.
An official of the Japan Home Health Care Alliance says that despite Japan's aging population, the country does not have enough home medical care services and the quality of the services remains low. He stresses the need to create a system in each region involving doctors as well as nurses and caregivers who offer services at home.