Poverty and Housing Among Older People: Comparing Australia and Japan

Abstract

This article presents estimates of poverty among older people in two countries—Australia and Japan—that are long‐standing members of the OECD with unique social policy approaches. The focus is on understanding whether and why older person poverty rates differ, and on the role that housing costs play in explaining observed differences. Poverty is estimated using a conventional income metric and an alternative based on total expenditure, with allowance made in both cases for the impact of housing by deducting costs or including imputed rent, respectively, with poverty lines tied to the median of the appropriate metric. The overlap between income‐ and expenditure‐based poverty rates is also examined and compared. The estimates reflect country differences in housing status (specifically, the rate of home ownership) and living arrangements (including how many older people live with others). They show that taking account of housing has a large impact on poverty in both countries, that expenditure poverty exceeds income poverty in Australia but not in Japan, and that while poverty is always lower in Japan than in Australia, the gap narrows when the expenditure metric is used.