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As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the number of elder abuse is increasing.
In particular, as the number of elderly couple households increased, sons were the most abused perpetrators before, but last year, for the first time, spouses outnumbered sons.
According to the '2021 Elder Abuse Status Report' released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare today (15th), the '6th Elder Abuse Prevention Day', the number of elder abuse reports last year was 19,391, a 14.2% increase from the previous year.
Among them, 6,774 cases were determined to be actual abuse, an increase of 8.2% from the previous year.
In particular, the number of cases of abuse that were previously reported and closed, but where the abuse occurred again last year stood at 739, a whopping 20.4% increase from the previous year.
place of abuse
In the order of 5,962 cases (88.0%) at home > 536 cases (7.9%) for living facilities > 87 cases (1.3%) for use facilities, the overwhelming majority of abuse was at home.
The perpetrators of abuse were their spouses with 2,455 (29.1%), followed by their sons with 2,287 (27.2%).
According to the report, 'sons' were the most perpetrators until now, but for the first time last year, 'spouses' were investigated as the most perpetrators.
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The Ministry of Health and Welfare analyzed that this is related to the current trend of increasing the proportion of elderly couple households. In fact, the proportion of elderly couple households increased from 44.5% in 2014 to 58.4% in 2020.
During the same period, the number of elderly households living with children decreased from 28.4% to 20.1%.
Under the influence of this household change trend, the number of elder abuse in elderly couple households actually increased from 26.3% in 2017 to 34.4% in 2021.
Last year, a total of 8,423 perpetrators of abuse were male, 5,413 (64.3%) and 3,010 (35.7%) female.
The type of abuse was emotional abuse (43.6%) > physical abuse (41.6%) > neglect (6.5%) > economic abuse (3.8%) > sexual abuse (2.4%).
Economic abuse is the act of taking away property or economic rights against the will of an elderly person.
Academia experts say that ① COVID-19 prolongs ② changes in household shape ③ conflicts between family members living together ④ burden of care and stress
It is analyzed that the number of elder abuse is increasing as these factors act as a complex factor.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to further strengthen the reporting and recurrence prevention and response system to prevent the recurrence of elder abuse. In particular, a counseling program for spouses will be developed and distributed to local senior protection agencies and training will be provided to strengthen on-site response capabilities.
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the Elder Abuse Prevention Day, the Human Rights Committee said, "We ask that you do not miss the small signal sent by the elderly who are suffering from abuse in our society." Please lean on it," he said.
※ Elder Abuse Report and Consultation Line 1577-1389 or 129
[Download PDF] 2021 Elder Abuse Status Report
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