Over 90% of poor Japanese families struggling to feed their children: survey

SCMP | Aug. 25, 2025, 2 a.m. | Original

The Japanese government’s emergency rice reserves in Saitama prefecture. More than 90 per cent of low-income households in Japan are struggling to afford food for their children, a survey shows. Photo: Kyodo

  • [ 2:24pm, 25 Aug, 2025 ]

    An earlier version of this story had the incorrect percentage in the headline, this has now been corrected.

More than 90 per cent of low-income households in Japan are struggling to afford food for their children due to surging prices and stagnant wages, according to a new survey.

The report published last week by international NGO Save The Children also shows that around 60 per cent of these households have reduced or stopped buying staple items, such as rice, due to high costs.

The June survey covered 7,850 households – including about 14,000 children – with monthly incomes of 112,200 yen (US$760) for a family of two, typically a single parent and child, and 151,000 yen for a family of four.

Inflation in Japan rose to 2.7 per cent last year, the highest in almost a decade.

In July, core consumer prices rose by 3.1 per cent from a year earlier, according to government data released on Friday. Food prices, excluding fresh items, soared by 8.3 per cent, although energy and other prices fell marginally.

Rice prices have doubled in the last year, partly due to supply shortages caused by substandard crops and a surge in tourists in Japan.
Tourists look at the fruit for sale at a market in Tokyo on Friday. Photo: AFP
Tourists look at the fruit for sale at a market in Tokyo on Friday. Photo: AFP

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