July 23, 2018

More than 60% of Japanese households in 2017 earned less than the national average. This was shown in the survey results the Welfare Ministry published on July 20.

The Comprehensive Survey of the Living Conditions, Health and Welfare of the People, which the Welfare Ministry conducted in 2017, found that the average annual household income stood at 5.6 million yen, up 2.7% from the previous year and that 61.5% of the all households earned less than this amount.

The survey asked a question whether life is hard or easy. The percentage of respondents who said “very hard” was 23.8%, up 0.4 percentage points, and “relatively hard” was 32%, down 1.1 percentage points, totaling 55.8%.

Among families with children, the proportion of mothers who were working hit a record high of 70.8%, up 3.6 percentage points from a year earlier. Of the working mothers, 37% worked under non-regular employment contracts and 24.7% under regular employment contracts.

Past related articles:
> Sustainable economic development impossible in a society with huge inequality [July 13, 2018]
> Drop in income gives rise to Engel's coefficient [January 19, 2018]