Fumio Ohtake (Osaka University)

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7th Global NTA Meeting Population Aging and the
Generational Economy June 11-12, 2010
Poverty and Inequality in Japan

• Fumio Ohtake (Osaka University)

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Backgrounds of Research (1) Public attention to
Income Gap
Background of Research Public Attention to
Income Gap and Poverty

• (1) in a governmental survey, a rising percentage
  of people report the perception of economic
  inequality
• (2) the widening income gap in society was
  debated in the Diet in 2006.
• (3) Japanese government published the poverty
  rate in 2009

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Figure 1 Perception of Economic Inequality
National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences(Cabinet
Office)
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Objectives of Research

1. Facts on income inequality in Japan based on the
   time series of the Gini coefficient
2. Reasons for the changes in Japan痴 income
   inequality
3. Change of Poverty Rate by Age groups

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Figure 2. Income Inequality in Japan the Gini
Coefficients from Various Data
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Figure 3. Changes of Share of Households by
Number of Household Member
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Figure 4 Gini Coefficient Household Income
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Figure 5. The Gini Coefficients of Before-tax
Income by Age of Household Heads
Equivalent Scaled Income
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Figure 6. Age Distribution of Household Heads
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Figure 7. Gini Coefficient of Household
Consumption by Age group
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Figure 8. Gini Coefficient Personal Income
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Are the elderly the economically disadvantaged
people? (1)

• The public pension system, the health insurance
  system, the long-term care insurance system solve
  the problem of elderly people's poverty
• The livelihood protection system
• The elderly people have a higher poverty rate
  than any other age group
• The average living standard of the elderly is not
  always low
• The average amount of financial assets held by
  age bracket is the largest among the aged.

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Are the elderly the economically disadvantaged
people? (2)

• The income distribution in Japan the level of
  income inequality of elderly people is higher
  than that of other age groups.
• The poverty rate of the elderly has not risen in
  the 2000s.
• The poverty rate increased in age groups of late
  20s, 30s and under 5 .
• The number of elderly people has increased itself
  and thus the ratio of the aged to poor people is
  on the rise.

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Poverty of elderly people seen from the receipt
of public assistance

• Fig. 9. Number of households receiving public
  assistance by household category

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Fig. 10 Ratio of households receiving public
assistance by household category
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Figure11 Ratio of Households Receiving Public
Assistance By Household Type
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Income and consumption of elderly people

• The average before-tax real income per person
  "National Survey of Family Income and
  Expenditure