A total of 17,479 people with dementia or suspected dementia were reported missing in 2019, the most since authorities began collecting data in 2012, police said Thursday.
The National Police Agency data showed the figure was up 552 from 2018 and about 80 percent higher than in 2012, revealing that the issue of dementia is becoming increasingly serious as the nation’s population grays rapidly.
Of those reported missing, 245 had not been found by the end of the year while 16,775, including people reported missing in 2018 or earlier, were located, according to the police data.
It showed 71.7 percent of dementia sufferers who wandered off were found the same day their disappearance was reported to police, while 99.4 percent were located within a week. Four people were found more than two years after they were reported missing.
In the meantime, 460 missing dementia sufferers died in accidents or due to other reasons, according to the data. By prefecture, Osaka topped the list having seen 2,007 people with dementia go missing, followed by Saitama with 1,960 and Hyogo with 1,778.
With around 7 million senior citizens, or one in every five people aged 65 or older, expected to suffer from dementia in 2025, police across Japan have built a network with local governments and private companies to share information on dealing with the problem of missing people.
Some municipalities assign mobile global positioning system tracking devices to dementia patients, allowing police to find them quickly if they go unaccounted for.
“It is important that an entire society tackles the issue with close cooperation between family members, municipalities and businesses,” Ryota Takeda, head of the National Public Safety Commission, told a news conference Thursday.
“I will instruct police to ensure their efforts to search for and protect (dementia patients) are appropriate,” he said.
The overall number of people who went missing last year, including those not suffering from dementia, reached 86,933, down 1,029 from 2018. Those in their 20s were the leading age group, at 17,852. Of the total, 64.1 percent were male and 35.9 percent female.
Source: Japan Times
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