An ineresting read on a similar topic was covered in Credit Suisse's magazine (picked it up at an airport): http://emagazine.credit-suisse.com/app/article/index.cfm?fus...

The linked story talks of death in isolation in Japan where it is a much more widespread problem due to two things: firstly, the work culture there does not incite interpersonal relationships so often people will only associate with their family, and secondly, people try to stay unintrusive in their old age, being ashamed to contact their children and other family.

The above is made even worse by relocation projects that took place moving couples into the suburbs out of the major cities, inorganicly forming "communities" overnight of people who have never met and never will leading to initiatives such as the Center for the Prevention of Death in Isolation.