People Living Alone

The rate of people living alone from the 2005 population census. The population census classifies in detail the number of household members and the rate of one-person households was calculated.

Of the 49,062,530 households in Japan, 14,457,083 households are one-person households, and the rate of people living alone is 29.47%. The rate of people living alone is highest in Tokyo, with 2,44,145 one-person households of a total of 5,747,460 households. The rate is 42.53%. Kyoto is second with 32.94%. Both areas are known for their many universities, believed to be the reason for the great number of one-person households.

Tokyo and Kyoto are followed by Hokkaido (32.40%) ranked 3rd, Osaka (4th: 32.08%) and Kochi (5th: 31.76%). It is interesting to note that Hokkaido and Kochi are ranked high besides metropolitan areas in which there are believed to be many students.

Regionally, the high rate of people living alone stands out in west Japan. A reason for the high rate in the west and low rate in the east may be discovered if the rate of people living alone is calculated by age group.

The correlative ranking shows high correlation with the various land prices. This is backs up the point that there are many people living alone in metropolitan areas with high land prices. It is also highly correlated with the rate of nuclear families, and it can be seen that areas with many nuclear familes overlap with areas with many people living alone. The correlative coefficient with Households Living on Welfare is also high, indicating that there may be many one-person households living on welfare.