Low-Income Single Parents Struggle to Buy Rice; NPO Reports Ominous Weight Loss in Children

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:02 JST, August 3, 2025

A majority of low-income single-parent households said they had experienced being unable to buy rice due to factors including the surging price of the staple food, according to a survey by a nonprofit organization. The figure is up 23 percentage points from the previous year, the group said.

The group, Single Mothers Forum, which supplies food to low-income single-parent households, conducts a survey every year on those who applied for its assistance program. This year, the survey was conducted in May, and 3,270 single parents with children under the age of 20 responded.

The survey showed that 45% of the respondents “often” had experiences of being unable to buy rice, a significant increase from 19% in March 2024. Those who said they “sometimes” could not buy rice stood at 43%, indicating that a total of 88% of low-income single-parent households had difficulty buying rice, a sharp rise from 65% in the previous year.

Moreover, 90% of the responding parents said they had skipped meals or reduced their amount.

Some respondents left desperate comments, such as, “I have one meal a day while my daughter was unable to attend the after-school childcare, which requires a bento” and “Despite being in their growth period, my child does not grow taller.” Another parent wrote, “Because rice is too expensive, I repeatedly go to the supermarket to check the price and come back in vain. Instead of paying that much money, I would rather replace my child’s worn-out clothes and shoes with new ones.”

“We received an unusually large number of comments saying children have lost weight, suggesting that both parents and children cannot eat enough,” said a member of the group. “We want authorities to make efforts to supply rice stably at reasonable prices as fast as possible.”