Japan's Poverty Rate at 15.7%

Child poverty in Japan is above the OECD average
Per cent in poverty before and after taxes and transfers

Here is the latest Economic Survey on Japan. The first part is reported via the Japan Times. The actual report links are provided afterwards.

The national poverty rate stood at 15.7 percent in 2006, according to first-ever figures released Tuesday by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, a fairly high rate for a developed country. The poverty rate for children was 14.2 percent that year, the ministry said. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development defines households with less than half the median national disposable income as poor. For Japan it was ¥1.14 million in 2006. Nagatsuma stressed that the poverty rate for single-parent households is particularly high in Japan at 58.7 percent in 2004, according to OECD figures. Click here for the rest of the story as reported in the Japan Times.

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universal insurance coverage

Another concern is the share of the population that does not pay health insurance premiums. By 2008, about 21% of households (8% of the total) that were covered by National Health Insurance (which includes primarily the self-employed, economically inactive and elderly) failed to pay the premium. Of this group, some (amounting to around 1.5% of total households) have to pay health costs out-of-pocket (these costs can be reimbursed but overdue premiums can be subtracted). It is important to reduce this share by improving compliance, as well as to include more non-regular workers in employer-based insurance. Another equity problem is that a significant portion of households limit their use of health care for financial reasons according to a 2007 poll. It is important to reduce the monthly ceiling on co-payments to ensure adequate health care, particularly for those with serious or chronic illnesses.

You can read the Economic Survey of Japan 2009 here. Previous years of The Economic Survey of Japan can be found here.[ad#468x60-ad]