The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced the current statistics of welfare recipients in Japan, May 22.

According to the ministry statistics, people receiving welfare in Okinawa numbered 33,350 as of Feb. 2013. The number is 52 higher than a month before, and the highest on record. The number of households receiving welfare also increased to 23,640, which is 43 more than in previous month and the highest on record, too.

40% of recipients are over 65 years old, and comprise 10,307 households. The Prefecture Welfare Department points out that the payment status to national pension system in Okinawa is very low, and old persons who are not eligible for pensions may push the welfare recipient numbers up.

In Japan as a whole, the number of persons who receive welfare as of February is 2,155,218 (1,576 more than previous month), and marks the 10th consecutive monthly increase. Also, the number of households receiving welfare rose to 1,574,643 (1,677 increase from previous month), also a new record.

More than 40% of people in households receiving welfare are over 65 years old, numbering 683,353. Another group categorized as households whose members are able to work, number 289,931, which is a little less than last month.

The research shows that the increase rate of households is bigger than the increase rate of persons, and that means decreasing number family households but increasing number of single person households.

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