According to ESCAP, there are approximately 5.1 million persons living with disabilities in Japan. In 1985 the Government of Japan introduced disability benefits as part of the country’s national multi-tiered pension programmes in order to provide access to income support for persons with disabilities. Japan’s national pension schemes are administered by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
Together Japan’s National Pension (NP) and Employee’s Pension Insurance (EPI) programmes provide contributory income support to persons with disabilities who are employed or self-employed, as well as their dependants. In order to be eligible, claimants must undergo an examination to certify the illness or injury that impairs their ability to work, which in turn groups claimants in different categories depending on severity of disability.
In order to qualify for benefits, individuals must have contributed to either programme for at least two-thirds of the period between age 20 and the onset of the disability. Low income earners and those who were born with disabilities or disabled before the age of 20 are exempt from making contributions to the NP. Entitlements available within the NP are calculated based on the assessed level of disability and paid every two months, up to JPY 990,000, or USD 8,250, annually to those with total disability requiring constant care. Dependant supplements of JPY 227,900, or USD 1,850, are paid each year for the first two children, up to the end of the fiscal year in which the child turns 18 or 20 years of age if the child has a disability. Benefits under the EPI are also calculated based on the assessed level of disability, with the minimum benefit starting at JPY 594,200, or USD 5,000, annually with dependent supplements calculated according to the NP, as outlined above. As of 2012, the National Pension together with the Employee’s Pension Insurance schemes has had a recipient list of 1,825,210 persons with disabilities.
Japan’s NP and EPI are complemented by Japan’s old age pension, which provides income support to all persons over 65 years of age, including persons with disabilities. Together these schemes provide nearly universal coverage to persons with disabilities in Japan, and are thus essential in building a national social protection floor to ensure that all in need have access to basic income security, including persons with disabilities.
Further Reading:
- National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (2014). Social Security in Japan 2014. Accessed from: http://www.ipss.go.jp/s-info/e/ssj2014/008.html on February 18, 2016.