Despite having one of the world's largest and most equally distributed economies, more of Japan's population is living in poverty now than a decade ago.
While the Japanese economy boomed during the '60s, '70s and '80s, the asset price bubble popped in the late '90s and the economy has had a hard time getting back on it's feet. In addition to this, the recent financial crisis and an aging population have hindered the competitive edge the land of the rising sun once had.
With a population of only 127 million, Japan has nonetheless maintained its status as the world's second largest economy in nominal terms and is one of the largest holders of American foreign debt. But new statistics from the Ministry of Welfare show that the poverty rate has risen to 15.7%, up from 14.6% in 1996. This is one of the highest rates amongst developed countries, and this despite being one of the world's most equally distributed economies, second only to Denmark.
The welfare minister, Akira Nagatsuma,
acknowledged his country has one of the highest rates of poverty amongst OECD member nations and has promised to begin working immediately to improve conditions for the poor.
But the situation is not much better in America. A 2004 OECD report ranks Japan with the 4th highest rate of poverty and just ahead in 3rd place is the US with a rate of 17.1 percent.
