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%
Based on the MHLW's "Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions 2022"
The MHLW (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) released the results of "the 2022 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions" (「2022年国民生活基礎調査」) on July 4, 2023. The survey has been conducted since 1986, and the 2022 round was the 13th large-scale survey (held every three years).
Of Japan’s 54.31 million households as of June 2, 2022, single-person households numbered 17.852 million (32.9%), couples with never-married children 14.022 million (25.8%), and couple-only households 13.33 million (24.5%).
In the 2001 survey, “couples with never-married children” accounted for 32.6% and “single-person households” for 24.1%. With the advance of population aging and low fertility, however, single-person households have been the largest category since the 2019 survey.
Looking at households that include at least one person aged 65 or over, there were 27.474 million such households—50.6% of all households. Within this group, the share that are 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%.
Among older-adult households (16.931 million households), single-person households make up 51.6% of the total. Of these single-person elderly households, 35.9% are men and 64.1% are women. While households with older adults are increasing, both the number of households with children (under 18) and the number of children per household continue to decline. Households with children accounted for 13.156 million (28.8%) in 2001 but fell to 9.917 million (18.3%) in the latest survey—below 10 million for the first time since the survey began.
As for the number of children in households with children, “two children” was the norm at the start of the survey (48.3%). In 2007, “one child” overtook “two,” and in the latest survey the shares were one child 49.3%, two children 38.0%, and three or more 12.7%. Cited reasons include the cost of child-rearing and the difficulty of balancing work and parenting, leading to a rapid decline in the share of households with two or more children.
Source: Compiled by the author based on MHLW, “Overview of the 2022 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions” (厚生労働省『2022年国民生活基礎調査の概況』).
Meanwhile, after the child poverty rate (the share of children living in households with equivalized disposable income below 50% of the median) reached 16.3% in 2012, efforts intensified to address poverty among single-mother households. As a result, the child poverty rate fell from 14.0% in the previous survey to 11.5% (down 2.5 points). Among working-age households with children and only one adult (i.e., single-parent households), the poverty rate also improved from 48.3% to 44.5% (down 3.8 points).
With households with children now around 20%, households with older adults making up over half, and single-person households accounting for about 30%, Japan’s skewed household structure is forcing a re-examination of systems across the board—from public health, medical care, long-term care, and pensions to welfare and education.
(Published with additions and revisions in the August 2023 issue of "EN-ICHI FORUM")
