W-5. Public Assistance Rate
1.Current Values
11.2 persons / 1,000 persons (in 2004)
2.Current Points (out of a perfect score of 100 by 2050)
76 points
Calculation method:
(Current value - minimum value) / (2050 target
value - minimum value) x 100
3. Explanation of Indicator
There is a public assistance system
in place in Japan for citizens who encounter difficulty
in making a living, to ensure a minimum level
of sound and cultural living. The public assistance
rate had decreased from 24.2 persons per 1,000
after the war to under 7.0 persons in 1995, accompanying
economic growth, but since then it has gone up
steadily and reached 11.2 in 2004.
Currently the elderly and/or the disabled account
for 90% of the public assistance cases. Along
with the elderly, elderly households have increased,
and there has also been an increase, due to the
recession, in the number of single mother and
others, including singles in their fifties, etc.
We believe that with economic growth in society
the number of persons who fall into poverty should
decrease rather than increase, and so we have
adopted the public assistance rate as an indicator.
4.Target for 2050
7.0 persons (the 1995 value, which was
the lowest in the past 60 yeas)
5.Ideal for the Future
Approaching zero
6. Rationale for Ideal and Target Values
For those people who want to work but
can't due to illness, old age, or child rearing,
there is livelihood protection that provides for
them minimally to enable them to survive.Public
assistance is the last of a variety of social
welfare safety nets, and is a system that is essential
to the protection of basic human rights.
On the other hand, we could say that in the ideal
situation there would be a safety net to ensure
the right to exist, but practically nobody needing
to make us of it. We are aiming for 7.0 as a target
value for 2050, which was the lowest in the past
60 years, and an ideal value of approaching zero.
7. Source
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare "Public Assistance System Data"(Japanese only)
Related information:
Annual
Report on Health and Welfare, Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare