At 16%, Japan's relative poverty rate - the share of the population living on less than half of the national median income - is already the sixth worst among the 34 OECD countries, just ahead of the US. - AFP Photo.
TOKYO: Last Christmas Eve, Ririko Saito and her 11-year-old daughter gathered some plastic bottles, pots and a kettle and made several trips to a nearby park to get water. Their utility had just turned off the tap after months of unpaid bills.
At 16%, Japan's relative poverty rate - the share of the population living on less than half of the national median income - is already the sixth worst among the 34 OECD countries, just ahead of the US. Child poverty in working, single-parent households like Saito's is by far the worst at over 50%, making Japan the only country where having a job does not reduce the poverty rate for that group.
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