Japan Retail Sector: Comprehensive Survey on Living Conditions: Japan is heading in a positive direction overall

Research evidence excerpt

Japan Retail Sector: Comprehensive Survey on Living Conditions: Japan is heading in a positive direction overall

Global Research

15 July 2026ab

Japan Retail Sector Equities

JapanComprehensive Survey on Living Conditions:

Japan is heading in a positive direction overall Retail

Takahiro Kazahaya

Analyst

takahiro.kazahaya@ubs.com

Summary +81-3-5208 6226

On 15 July, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released (Japanese only) the 2025 Kazuki Oike

Comprehensive Survey on Living Conditions. In this report, we summarise the key points Analyst

and our view . kazuki.oike@ubs.com

+81-3-5208 6964

Number of households and household members Hirotaro Hasegawa

As of 5 June 2025, the total number of households stood at 55.058mn (45.664mn in Associate Analyst

2001). Single-person households accounted for the largest share at 35.4% of the total hirotaro.hasegawa@ubs.com

(24.1% in 2001), followed by married couple-only households at 24.7% (20.6%). +81-3-5208 6684

Elderly households accounted for 31.9% (14.6%). Average household size was 2.17

persons (2.75), confirming that while the number of households continues to increase,

average household size continues to decline because of growth in single-person and

couple-only households.Households with children totalled 9.174mn, or 16.7% of the

total, down sharply from 13.156mn, or 28.8%, in the 2001 survey. Meanwhile, the

average number of children in households with children declined from 1.75 in 2001 to

1.63 in 2024, though this number has remained relatively stable over the past three

years (1.65 in the 2023 survey and 1.68 in the 2024 survey).

Incomes

Average 2024 household income was disclosed in the 2025 survey at ¥5.752mn for all

households, ¥3.361mn for elderly households, and ¥8.573mn for households with