TOKYO, July 15 (Bernama-Kyodo): Japan recorded 37.1 per cent of households providing care at home, with both the care recipient and primary caregiver aged 75 or older in 2025, Kyodo News reported citing government data on Wednesday.
The figure rose 1.4 percentage points from the previous survey in 2022 and was nearly double the 18.7 per cent reported in 2001, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's survey on people's lives.
The number of people aged 65 or older living alone also reached a record high of more than 9.33 million.
Japan is facing growing pressure on its care system as members of the postwar baby boom generation, born between 1947 and 1949, enter their late 70s.
Meanwhile, in 61.9 per cent of households providing care at home, both the care recipient and primary caregiver were aged 65 or older, down 1.6 percentage points from 2022.
Concerns are growing that the burden on elderly caregivers will increase as care recipients' conditions worsen or the caregivers themselves develop dementia or other health problems.
The country also faces the challenge of growing social isolation among older people living alone.
The survey has been conducted annually since 1986 and is one of Japan's core government statistics used in policy making. Every three years, the ministry conducts a more extensive survey with additional questions on health and nursing care and a larger sample.
The survey was cancelled for the first time in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
-- BERNAMA-KYODO
