A shopper looks at a selection of whiskey at a large discount supermarket in Seoul on Jan. 12, 2022. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Among the rising death toll from alcohol addiction during the pandemic, more than half of victims died a so-called solitary death on their own.
The Korean Academy of Addiction Psychiatry showed that the death toll from alcohol abuse jumped from 156 people in 2019 to 204 people in 2020 and 215 people in 2021.
The death toll among victims of alcohol abuse that involved solitary deaths jumped from 69 people in 2019 to 90 people in 2020 and 110 people in 2021.
In 2021, a whopping 51.2 percent of all deaths caused by alcohol abuse were solitary deaths.
The academy argued that the increase can be attributed to the shrinking access to medical services for alcohol abuse since the outbreak of the pandemic, exacerbated by declining government support.
“There are only eight hospitals across the country that specialize in treating alcohol abuse. The national budget allocated for the prevention of alcohol abuse has remained constant at 1.4 billion won (US$978,330) each year since 2010,” said Lee Hae-kook, chairman of the Korean Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
