Over 50 percent of single Japanese women in their 20s struggle to make ends meet, survey says

Life in Japan can be tough in many ways–long hours at the office and overcrowded trains being two of the biggest difficulties–but with the country being so clean and the crime rates so low, you would think that poverty isn’t really an issue in the country. Unfortunately, it is — it’s just a hidden problem.

The cost of living is high in Japan, especially in Tokyo, because amenities that might be considered basic in other countries, like fruit, education, and even the process of moving into a new apartment are expensive. In fact, according to a recent survey done by financial news site Money Book, single women in their twenties are especially struggling to stay afloat, with more than 50 percent of respondents claiming that money is tight.

The survey is part of an endeavor to see how well the government’s efforts to reform the work environment and help promote women in the workforce are working. 350 twenty-something women from across Japan were surveyed about their work, salary, and expenses, and the results were pretty interesting. To start with, when asked about their salaries, 49.9 percent of respondents were earning less than 200,000 yen per month (US$2,094.38).

For reference, the rent of a decent one-room studio apartment in Tokyo usually starts at about 70,000 yen per month, but can go up to 100,000 or more, depending on location, size, and quality. At that rate, a salary of 200,000 yen could be pretty tight. You could make it on far less, but you would have to sacrifice a lot of the things that you enjoy. In fact, the average monthly expenses for these women came out to 143,685 yen, with the largest number of women (28.6 percent) reporting that they spend between 100,000 and 150,000 yen every month on bills and necessities.