Welfare Ministry: Just 3% of Japanese Households Receiving Social Assistance Headed by Foreign Residents

Policies related to foreign residents in Japan have become a talking point ahead of the House of Councillors election set for July 20. A false claim that a third of households receiving social welfare are “foreign” has widely circulated on social media. In fiscal 2023, the number of households with a foreign head (based on the resident register) was just 2.9%.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, 1,650,478 households received social welfare in fiscal 2023 (including those where payments were in the process of being halted), which was an increase of 7,015 year on year.

There are 47,317 recipient households with a foreign head. While this total has increased numerically, along with the foreign population, the percentage of the overall number of households has remained below 3% over the past decade.

Under the Act on Public Assistance, social welfare is available to citizens, but in 1954 the former Ministry of Health and Welfare issued a notice stating that it can also be provided to foreign residents.

Data Sources

• Information on social welfare recipients (Japanese) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner image: A man consults about social welfare at the municipal office in Chūō, Tokyo, on January 22, 2004. © Jiji.)