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Women and gender
LifestyleFamily & Relationships

Women in Japan facing harder retirements; will run out of money, as a whole, 20 years before they die, according to one study

  • Factors including an ageing population and falling birth rates are damaging the retirement prospects of women in Japan
  • One professor estimates the poverty rate for single, elderly women could reach 50 per cent in 40 years

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Japan’s gender pay gap is one of the widest among advanced economies, and factors including an ageing population and falling birth rates are damaging the retirement prospects of Japanese women. Photo: AFP via Getty Images
Bloomberg

At first glance, things seem to be getting better for Japanese women.

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In an economy that has historically lagged behind other developed nations when it comes to female workforce participation, a record 71 per cent are now employed – an 11 point leap from a decade ago.

The Japanese government boasts one of the most generous parental leave laws in the world and recently created a “limited full-time worker” category aimed primarily at mothers looking to balance job and family. And one of the most important needs for working families – child day care – is slowly being expanded.

But even with these advantages, Japanese women – whether single or married, full-time or part-time – face a difficult financial future. A convergence of factors that include an ageing population, falling birth rates and anachronistic gender dynamics are conspiring to damage their prospects for a comfortable retirement.
An elderly woman in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. In Japan, people live longer than almost anywhere else. Photo: Getty Images
An elderly woman in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. In Japan, people live longer than almost anywhere else. Photo: Getty Images
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According to Seiichi Inagaki, a professor at Japan’s International University of Health and Welfare, the poverty rate for older Japanese women will more than double over the next 40 years, to 25 per cent. For single, elderly women, he estimated, the poverty rate could reach 50 per cent.

In Japan, people live longer than almost anywhere else and birth rates are at their lowest since records began. As a result, the nation’s working-age population is projected to have declined by 40 per cent come 2055.
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