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According to a new study based on data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), dying alone is becoming increasingly common in England and Wales.

Researchers have discovered increasing decayed bodies in homes, council flats and other isolated areas. This alarming increase has been observed over the previous 40 years, with isolation and loneliness becoming a global issue.

In a sad state of affairs, it is becoming common for people to die alone at home, their deaths going unreported and undetected – in some cases for years. Dr Lucinda Hiam, of the University of Oxford noted “Many people would be shocked that someone can lie dead at home for days, weeks or even longer without anyone raising an alarm among the community they live in.”

While death rates from all other causes have fallen over the same period, the numbers of “undefined deaths” – which will often involve people who have died at home, gone undiscovered and then been found already decomposed – have gone up considerably for both sexes since 1980.

The Office for National Statistics found that the rise in unattended deaths could be attributed to a “breakdown in formal and informal social support networks,” with vulnerable individuals “falling through the gaps” of societal assistance.

“Being found decomposed after days, weeks, months or even years might indicate a high level of neglect, but this is speculative without further investigation.”

They highlighted the case of Laura Winham, 38, who had serious mental health issues and was discovered in a “mummified, almost skeletal state” at her flat in Woking, Surrey, in 2021, more than three years after she died.

Another woman’s body, Sheila Seleoane, 61, was also discovered horribly decayed in her flat in London in 2022, two years after she died.

The team is now calling for improved tracking of this bleak trend, possibly through the creation of an ONS code expressly for decomposing bodies.

“Loneliness is all too common and although all age groups experience it, for those in later life it can be particularly problematic. The impact it has on a person’s health and their quality of life is pronounced. Loneliness puts people at a 50% increased risk of an early death compared to those with good social connection.”