EN-ICHI Opens Up the Future of Family and Community
[Info. File] Over 30% of Elderly Households Are “Single-Person,” While 18% of Households Have Children
Based on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s "Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions"
Japan’s household structure continues to shift: the share of single-person households is rising, while the share of households with children (under 18) is falling.
According to the MHLW’s "2023 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions" released on July 5, 2024, Japan had 54,452,000 households as of June 1, 2023. Of these, single-person households numbered 18,495,000 (34.0%)—the largest category since 2019—followed by couples with never-married children only at 13,516,000 (24.8%) and couple-only households at 13,395,000 (24.6%). Average household size continues to decline, reaching 2.23 persons.
Households that include at least one person aged 65 or over totaled 26,951,000 (49.5%), nearly half of all households. Within this group, couple-only households accounted for 8,635,000 (32.0%), single-person households 8,553,000 (31.7%), and parent(s) with never-married child(ren) only 5,432,000 (20.2%).
Source: Compiled by the author based on MHLW, “Overview of the 2023 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions” (厚生労働省「2023(令和5)年 国民生活基礎調査の概況」).
Among older adult single-person households, men account for 35.6% and women for 64.4%—roughly two in three are women. By age band, the largest shares are men 70–74 (27.7%) and women 85+ (24.9%).
By contrast, households with children (under 18) numbered 9,835,000, just 18.1% of all households, marking two consecutive years below 10 million.
Within households with children, those with one child make up 48.6% (about half), two children 39.7%, and three or more 11.7%. The average number of children per household with children has fallen to 1.65.
The share of single-person households is expected to keep rising. According to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research’s Household Projections for Japan (April 2024), the single-person share across family types will reach 44.3% in 2050.
Driving the increase in older single-person households is a rising never-married rate. Among single-person households aged 65+, the never-married share is projected to rise from men 33.7% / women 11.94% (2020) to men 59.7% / women 30.2% (2050). Whereas today solo-living among seniors often follows bereavement or a spouse’s admission to a care facility, going forward the number of older adults with no close relatives at all is expected to increase sharply.
(Published with additions and revisions in the August 2024 issue of "EN-ICHI FORUM")
