Every year, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research releases “The Financial Statistics of Social Security in Japan.” The statistics compile annual expenditures on social security schemes in Japan, such as pensions, medical insurance, long-term care insurance, employment insurance, public assistance, and child-rearing support, on the basis of two international standards: the ILO (International Labour Organization) standards for Social Expenditure and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) standards for Social Benefit. Compared to Social Benefit, Social Expenditure includes expenditures that do not go directly to individuals, such as facility maintenance costs.

According to the time-series trend of Social Benefit by category, all three categories ? Pensions, Medical Care, and Welfare and Others (including long-term care) －have been increasing as a result of the population aging and other factors. In recent years, while the growth of expenditures on Pensions has slowed, expenditures on Medical Care and Welfare and Others have fluctuated significantly partly due to expenditures on COVID-19 measures and the expansion of child-rearing support.

The international comparison of Social Expenditure shows that Old Age and Health are high in Japan among nine policy areas. The Financial Statistics of Social Security in Japan have been broadly used as fundamental sources to monitor social security policies and their financing, and also as a significant index to conduct international comparisons of social security expenditures.