IDN Times

Average Japanese household income drops for first time in 4 years

A government survey has found that the average annual income of Japanese households dropped in 2021 for the first time in four years.

The finding comes from an annual survey by the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, which compiled data submitted by more than 19,000 households in July last year.

The average income for the year was 5,457,000 yen, or about 37,800 dollars. That was down 3.3 percent from the previous year.

The average income of senior households dropped 4.4 percent to about 22,000 dollars. Other households saw their incomes decrease by an average of 3 percent to roughly 46,000 dollars.
The average for households with one or more children fell 3.5 percent to about 54,300 dollars.

By income range, 14.6 percent of the households, the largest number, had incomes from 2 to 3 million yen, or between 13,800 and 20,800 dollars. Households with below-average incomes accounted for 61.6 percent of the total.

When assessing the steep decline in incomes between 2020 and 2021, the ministry noted that in 2020, the government provided a COVID-19 cash subsidy to all residents which was equivalent to about 930 dollars at that time.

But the ministry acknowledged that the average income would have declined regardless of this fact, and said it is partly because of the increase in senior and single-person households. It says it will take measures to push up per-capita income.

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230705_11/