A recent survey showed that 44.1 percent of single Japanese women aged 65 and older are living in poverty, much higher than the rate for single elderly men.

The poverty level is as severe as that of working-age single-parent households, which stands at 44.5 percent.

The survey was released in late January after Aya Abe, a professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University who researches poverty issues, compiled the data based on the welfare ministry’s comprehensive survey of living conditions in 2021.

“Social norms that assume women are being supported by men have led to a system that doesn’t consider women living alone—and persist even today,” Abe said.

“Attention on ‘women’s poverty’ often focuses on young women and single mothers. Policies also revolve around child support and are not essentially supporting women,” she added.

Elderly people often face a decrease in income or no income due to retirement, making both men and women vulnerable to poverty.

Single-person households are also more likely to fall into poverty than married-couple households, in which at least one partner is an earner or pension recipient.

However, there is a disparity between genders, with the poverty rate for elderly single men at 30 percent, 14.1 points lower than that for elderly single women.

The poverty rate varies among elderly women depending on their marital status.

While the rate is 13.5 percent for married women, it jumps to 43.1 percent for unmarried women and 43.6 percent for those who are divorced. The rate for widows stands at 32 percent.

This suggests a higher poverty risk for women who are not married. Widows can receive some support from bereaved family pensions.

The relative poverty rate, adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), indicates a state in which individuals cannot afford the standard of living that most people in society enjoy. The indicator does not take assets or in-kind benefits into account.

According to the welfare ministry’s 2021 survey, Japan’s poverty rate stands at 15.4 percent, with the rate for children at 11.5 percent.

Other data released from the internal affairs ministry, based on the 2019 survey of family income and expenditures, showed that the relative poverty rate is 35.1 percent for single women aged 65 and older and 20.3 percent for men in the same group.

According to the 2020 national census, there are roughly 6.72 million elderly single-person households, with women accounting for two-thirds, or about 4.41 million.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimates that the number of elderly single women will reach approximately 5.4 million in 2040, suggesting a possibility of worsening poverty in this demographic.

‘MY OWN FAULT?’

A 77-year-old unemployed woman in Tokyo lives alone in a 50-year-old apartment that costs 30,000 yen ($203) a month to rent.

She had no interest in marriage or having children and has chosen to remain single.

The woman, who hails from Kyushu, worked as a temporary employee for the local government in her mid-20s.

Unable to save money due to the low daily wages, she moved to Tokyo in her 30s in search of work.

After working part time, she became a full-time employee at a long-established confectionery store. She handled customer service and sales and was also in charge of managing the store.

Her monthly wage ranged from about 150,000 yen to 180,000 yen.

Although she made less than men working in sales or at a factory, she was not dissatisfied.

She worked until retirement and then worked part time for the next three years.

She had around 6 million yen in savings and vaguely believed she could live off her pension and savings.

However, she received only about 90,000 yen a month from her national pension and employee pension.

Since her rent was roughly 60,000 yen at the time, she began to dip into her savings to make ends meet.

After she entered her 70s, her savings were nearly depleted. She moved into her current apartment about three years ago.

She does not use the air conditioning to save on utilities. In the summer, she places ice packs under her armpits and in the winter, she put heat pads on her back.

She visits supermarkets and farmer’s markets, seeking out even the slightest discounts on vegetables and prepared foods.

However, the rising cost of living has taken a toll on her life.

At the end of last year, she stood in line to receive food assistance for the first time.

“I never thought I would end up like this. Is it my own fault?” she asked.

ASSUMPTION THAT WOMEN ARE SUPPORTED BY MEN

Looking at the relative poverty rate by age group, the gap between genders widens as they get older.

The differences are 3 points for those aged 70 to 74, 8 points for those aged 75 to 79 and 11 points for those aged 80 and older.

In November last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at an Upper House Budget Committee meeting: “As people reach the age of 70 and older, women are more likely to be living alone.”

“Women tend to earn lower wages than men, making them more likely to receive lower pensions,” he said.

According to the welfare ministry’s 2022 survey on elderly pensioners, 62 percent of men receive monthly pensions of 150,000 yen or more, however, 61 percent of women receive less than 100,000 yen per month.

“Pensions meant to support the elderly are modeled on a family-centric, or more specifically, a male-centric basis,” Abe said.

The pensions are designed so that recipients get more than 50 percent of the average after-tax income of working-age people. In fiscal 2024 starting in April, the monthly amount is set to be about 230,000 yen.

However, the pension system is modeled on households in which the men work for 40 years earning the average male wage, while women remain housewives all their lives. This model assumes that households will have national pensions for both spouses and a husband’s employee pension.

Women, who worked part time and were not enrolled in employee pensions, often receive only national pensions.

Even for those who worked as full-time employees or civil servants and were enrolled in employee pensions, many women receive lower benefits than men due to the wage gap and shorter periods of employment resulting from career breaks during child-rearing years.

There are few ways for the elderly to help themselves financially.

While the number of workers aged 65 and older reached 9.14 million in the 2023 survey, 5.34 million of those were men compared to 3.8 million women.

Women are less likely to continue working and more likely to rely on pensions, yet these alone do not fully serve as a safety net.

(This article was written by Yuki Nikaido, Amane Shimazaki and Takuro Negishi.)