EN-ICHI Opens Up the Future of Family and Community
[Info. File] Rise in Single-Person Households Among Older Adults; Households With Children Fall Below 20%
From the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's "2022 Basic Survey on National Living Conditions"
On July 4, 2023, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released the results of the 2022 Comprehensive Survey on Living Conditions of the People. The survey has been conducted since 1986, and 2022 marked the 13th large-scale triennial survey.
Of the 54.31 million households nationwide (as of June 2, 2022), 17.852 million (32.9%) were "single-person households," 14.022 million (25.8%) were "couple and unmarried children households," and 13.33 million (24.5%) were "couple-only households."
In the 2001 survey, 32.6% were "couple and unmarried children households," and 24.1% were "single-person households." However, due to the declining birthrate and aging population, "single-person households" have become the most common type since the 2019 survey.
Looking at households with members aged 65 or older, there are 27.474 million, accounting for half (50.6%) of all households. Of these, "single-person households" rose from 28.8% in 2021 to 31.8%.
Looking at the household structure of the 16,931,000 elderly households, "single-person households" account for 51.6% of all elderly households. Of these, male single-person households account for 35.9% while female single-person households account for 64.1%.
While the number of households with elderly members is increasing, the number of households with children (under 18 years of age) and the number of children in households continues to decline. In 2001, the number of households with children out of all households was 13,156,000 (28.8%), but in this survey it was 9,917,000 (18.3%), falling below 10 million for the first time since the survey began.
When the survey began, the standard number of children in households with children was "two" (48.3%), but in 2007 "one child" surpassed "two", and in this latest survey "one child" was 49.3%, "two children" was 38.0%, and "three or more children" was 12.7%. The proportion of households with two or more children is rapidly declining due to reasons such as "raising children is expensive" and "it is difficult to balance work and child-rearing".
Source: Created by the author based on the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's "2022 Basic Survey on Living Conditions of the People"
Meanwhile, the child poverty rate (the percentage of those with less than half of their equivalent disposable income) reached 16.3% in 2012, leading to progress in efforts to combat child poverty among single-mother households. As a result, the child poverty rate fell 2.5 percentage points from 14.0% in the previous survey to 11.5%. The poverty rate for single-person working households with children also improved, falling 3.8 percentage points from 48.3% to 44.5%.
Japan's distorted household structure, in which 20% of households have children, more than half have elderly people, and approximately 30% are "single-person households," is forcing a review of systems in all areas, including health care, medical care, nursing care, pensions, welfare, and education.
(This article was revised and added to the August 2023 issue of EN-ICHI FORUM.)
