A survey by the Ministry of Social Affairs found that the percentage of Japanese households who perceive their living conditions as difficult rose by 8.3 percentage points from the previous year to 59.6% in 2023.
The ministry believes that the cause of this is rising prices.
The research, the latest national poll on living conditionswas conducted from June to July last year, with 40,526 families being interviewed about household composition and 4,768 families about income.
According to the annual survey, 26.5% of all respondents who answered that their living conditions were difficult, chose ‘very difficult’ and 33.1% chose ‘somewhat difficult’. Based on the type of household, 59% of older households and 65% of households with children answered that their living conditions were difficult.
The survey also found that average annual household income fell by ¥215,000, or 3.9%, from the previous year to ¥5,242,000.
The average for elderly households was ¥3,049,000, a decrease of ¥134,000.
Meanwhile, households with children reported an increase of ¥276,000 to ¥8,126,000. The growing share of working mothers appears to have pushed their average up.
In families with children, working mothers accounted for 77.8% of all mothers, a record high. The share of full-time employees among working mothers was 32.4%, also a record high.
