Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2024 August 7 - 13 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

80% of people with disabilities live in poverty

Akahata on August 12 reported on a survey showing that about 80% of people with disabilities are living on an annual income of less than 1.27 million yen, Japan’s designated poverty line.

The survey was conducted by the Japan Association of Community Workshops for Disabled Persons (Kyosaren) between May 2023 and May 2024.

In the survey, regarding the annual income level, 78.6% answered they earned 1.27 million yen or less, equivalent to the relative poverty line, and 97.2% said they earned less than two million yen annually.

Kyosaren executive Ono Hiroshi called for the need to substantially increase the amount of the disability pension benefit. He said that it is necessary to improve the current basic income guarantee system for disabled persons in order to ensure that people with disabilities have a standard of living equal to that of people not affected by disabilities as required by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Ono noted that in 2022, the UN Committee on the rights of disabled persons recommended that the Japanese government compile “comprehensive disaggregated data on persons with disabilities, covering all areas of life.” He said that the government should conduct a nationwide survey on the actual status of disabled persons.