In Japan, a world-leading super-aged country, tragedies continue in which families bearing the caregiving burden alone make extreme choices or kill elderly relatives. Analysts say so-called "elder-to-elder caregiving," in which an elderly person cares for another elderly person with dementia or a serious illness, has reached its limit.
On the 23rd, Kyodo News, citing data from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, reported that over 19 years from 2006 to 2024, at least 486 people age 65 and older lost their lives at the hands of family members or relatives. By gender, women accounted for 344 and men for 142.
Most of the killings stemmed from the perpetrator's extreme fatigue and isolation. In most cases, after caring long term for a parent or spouse with dementia, they could not withstand economic poverty and physical exhaustion and carried out extreme choices.
By the perpetrator's gender, men—such as sons or husbands—accounted for an overwhelming share. Experts said this reflects the reality that male caregivers are relatively less likely than women to voice psychological difficulties to those around them or to use welfare programs. Some also said the welfare blind spots—left unattended due to lack of awareness of programs or inability to seek help—worsened the tragedies.
In Japan, the number of elderly households consisting only of people age 65 and older has surpassed 17 million. An abnormal structure in which a wife in her 70s cares for a husband in his 80s, or a child in their 60s cares alone for parents in their 90s, is becoming routine in Japan. Among the generation responsible for supporting grandparents and parents, cases of giving up caregiving or cutting ties altogether have surged due to prolonged recession and economic hardship.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, among the tragedies that have occurred since 2009, more than half of the households involved were not using any government-supported long-term care insurance services at the time of the incidents. Isolated from the safety net, they endured a caregiving hell behind closed doors and made irreversible choices.
Given the nature of elderly households living cut off from the outside world, the number of concealed abuse cases or deaths from neglect that do not surface is estimated to be far higher. Citing a Japanese care expert, Tokyo MX said, "Incidents that lead to extreme choices or murder are just the tip of the iceberg showing elder-to-elder caregiving," adding, "Potential high-risk groups, pushed to the limit and likely to cause incidents, are being left unattended throughout society." The claim is that caregiving homicides are not simple household discord but a social disaster born of the collapse of the national care system. They added that many caregiving family members suffer from depression or lack of sleep yet give up entering nursing facilities due to the expense burden.
In Japan as well, voices are growing that it is urgent to build a close-knit welfare network that identifies and provides dense support to isolated elder-to-elder caregiving households. The argument is that the state should actively intervene to break the current framework that shifts the caregiving burden solely onto individuals or families and greatly increase the share of public support.