Japan Press Weekly

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2018 April 4 - 10 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

More and more disabled persons rely on welfare assistance

In the past five years, the number of disabled households relying on the livelihood protection program increased by 16,716 to 197,385. This was shown in a Welfare Ministry survey on welfare assistance between January 2013 and January 2018.

Disabled households are normally living mainly on a basic pension for the disabled. In a Welfare Ministry survey of persons with disability, they receive 77,829 yen in disability pension benefits a month on average. The median annual income of disabled households was 1.83 million yen which included pension benefits, while the annual income of the average Japanese family was 4.15 million yen.

In a survey conducted by a civil group working to support disabled persons, the Japan Association of Community Workshops for Disabled Persons (Kyosaren), most disabled people working in community workshops earned less than 1.22 million yen a year, which is below the poverty line. The percentage of welfare recipients stood at 11.4%.

Shirasawa Hitoshi, secretary general of the National Conference to Support the Life and Rights of Disabled Persons, said, “The need is to improve the pension system so that disabled persons can maintain minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living.”

Past related article:
> 80% of disabled persons live below poverty line: civil group data [May 26 & 29, 2016]