Child Necessities in Japan Using Consensual Approach

Abstract

Numerous studies on the material deprivation index have been conducted overseas, and the European Union has adopted it as one of the official poverty indicators. However, in Japan, there has been little progress in developing the material deprivation index for children, and there was no mention of it in the set of indicators listed in the “Kodomo Taiko,” which was approved by the Cabinet at the end of 2023.

This paper reviews the latest developments in the methodology for selecting items to construct material deprivation index. Moreover, it applies a suitability test, one of four tests used to verify the validity of items, to determine the appropriateness of items to represent a low standard of living while utilising a social consensus approach. The data used is from an internet survey conducted in 2022, that gathered 2,000 responses from the general public. The results indicated that 20 necessities for households with children and 15 children’s necessities met the two criteria of this approach. People’s perception of what is necessary for children showed relatively high correlation between different sociodemographic groups.