Number of Elderly Aged 65 and Above Who Live Alone from 2013 to 2017
Ministry of HealthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns an inquiry by Ms Sun Xueling regarding the number of elderly residents living alone and those found dead in their homes between 2013 and 2017. Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong provided statistics for seniors living alone but noted that the Ministry of Health does not track the number of individuals found dead while living on their own. To support this demographic, the Ministry launched the Community Network for Seniors in 2016, utilizing over 850 volunteers to provide befriending services to vulnerable seniors across 47 constituencies. Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong also highlighted technological initiatives like Changi General Hospital’s 24/7 Care Line pilot, which offers tele-befriending, telecare, and urgent assistance to community-dwelling seniors. These efforts aim to build community-based support systems that complement family care and ensure seniors remain healthy and socially engaged while aging in place.
Transcript
20 Ms Sun Xueling asked the Minister for Health in the past five years, (a) what is the number of elderly aged 65 and above who lived alone; and (b) what is the number of elderly found dead in their homes while living on their own.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: The number of Singapore residents aged 65 and above who lived alone in the past five years is shown in Table 1 below. We do not track the number of elderly found dead in their homes while living on their own.
Given the growing number of seniors living alone, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has been making additional efforts, together with our community partners, to engage and care for our seniors. We launched the Community Network for Seniors (CNS) in 2016, which aims to develop a strong system of community-based support to complement family support, so as to keep seniors healthy and socially engaged and help them age well in place. A key focus area is befriending. We work with our network of Pioneer Generation Ambassadors, grassroots leaders and community voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) to connect seniors who are lonely or at risk of social isolation with befrienders or neighbour volunteers in their neighbourhood. To date, we have over 850 volunteers serving 2,500 vulnerable seniors in 47 constituencies. We are also leveraging technology to better support our seniors. For example, Changi General Hospital is piloting Care Line, a 24/7 tele-befriending and telecare service. This programme supports seniors living in the community through alerts on active ageing activities in their area, information about programmes and urgent assistance if seniors are unwell.
Building communities of care requires all of us to play our part. MOH will continue to work with our community partners, other agencies and our fellow Singaporeans to support our seniors.
