Poverty in Japan

rdf:langString Poverty in Japan

rdf:langString In Japan, relative poverty is defined as a state at which the income of a household is at or below half of the median household income. According to OECD figures, the mean household net-adjusted disposable income for Japan is US$23,458, higher than the OECD member state average of US$22,387. Unlike several other modern countries, Japan has no official poverty line, making it difficult to get accurate figures on those suffering impoverished conditions. It was estimated in 2006, using the Employment Status Survey, that 8.2% of regular employees made little enough to be considered working poor. In October 2009, Japan's Labor Ministry released a report which stated that almost one in six Japanese, which would be 22 million people, lived in poverty. Japan's welfare ministry put forward a request in 2012 national budget to come up with a new poverty index. This request was submitted so that the new index could include important factors affecting poverty, namely, health, food, clothing and living conditions. In 2013, the Japanese government recorded relative poverty rates of 16%. This was the highest on record. Another study showed that 1 out of 3 Japanese women ages 20–64 and living alone were living in poverty. Japan has some of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world, according to a UNICEF report. It ranked Japan 34th out of 41 industrialised countries. According to Japan's Health Ministry statistics, as of May 2017, 16% of Japanese children live below the poverty line.