The share of foreign residents who paid their national pension premiums in fiscal 2023 came to 55.0%, the health ministry announced, a rate that leaves a gap of roughly 30 points against the 85.6% for the population including Japanese. Kyodo News reported the figures.
The rate rose from 49.7% in the previous fiscal year. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published the final payment rate for fiscal 2023 in July.
Everyone aged 20 to 59 living in Japan must join the national pension, regardless of nationality. Premiums can in principle be paid retroactively within two years of the deadline.
Barriers to understanding
Raising awareness of how the system works, what the procedures are and what members gain from joining is seen as the task for lifting payment. Low compliance, among foreign residents or anyone else, could undermine the sustainability of the system.
People who stay in arrears risk receiving too little pension to live on in old age.