【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.175: Home care patients are rapidly increasing

According to a patient survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of home care patients has increased dramatically. As shown in Table 1, there are three types of home care: house call, visit for medical care, and visit by non-doctor or non-dentist. Figure 1 shows that the number of home care patients in 2017 is 180,100, which is nearly three times the total of 64,800 in 2005.

As shown in Table 2, when breaking down that number of 180,100 patients by care provider, clinics provided care for 105,200, dental clinics for 54,600, and hospitals for 20,300. In addition, 148,900 people, accounting for 83% of the patients, are aged 75 or older. Japan's population in that age range is predicted to increase from 17,560,000 in 2017 to 22,884,000 in 2030, then to 24,170,000 in 2050. Therefore, it is urgent to expand the home care delivery system.

Table 1: Types of home care

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Figure 1: Number of home care patients

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfar

Table 2: Breakdown of home care patients by type of visit in 2017

Note: The totals do not necessarily match because of rounding.
Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare