Social security expenditure

Japanese: 社会保障費 - しゃかいほしょうひ（英語表記）social security expenditure

Social security is a system based on the spirit of mutual aid through solidarity, whereby members of society protect each other from difficulties caused by old age, illness, unemployment, etc., and the expenses for this are recorded in national finances as social security expenses (social security-related expenses).

[Tetsuya Hitosugi and Toru Haneda]

Japan's Social Security Costs

Social security-related expenses in Japan's national finances (general account) consist of (1) public assistance expenses related to living assistance and medical assistance, (2) social welfare expenses such as elderly welfare and child protection, (3) social insurance expenses such as employees' pension insurance, national pension, and national health insurance, (4) public health and medical hygiene expenses, and (5) unemployment countermeasure expenses. The above are social security expenses in the narrow sense (general account), but in the broad sense, pensions and war victim relief expenses are also included.

(1) is mostly national subsidies for welfare payments paid by local governments, but in recent years, with the aging of the population and the worsening recession, public assistance payments have been increasing rapidly. (2) is primarily elderly welfare expenses, but together with other items such as old-age welfare pensions paid out of the National Pension Special Account, elderly welfare expenses in a broad sense are made up. (5) is primarily employment insurance. (3) is the largest social security expense, and nursing care insurance was newly added in April 2001 to the existing public pensions (employee pension insurance, national pension) and national health insurance.

[Tetsuya Hitosugi and Toru Haneda]

Ageing and social security costs

After World War II, many developed countries chose to become welfare states. As a result, the level of social welfare rose significantly, but around the time of the 1973 oil crisis, rising social security costs, which in turn led to higher taxes and insurance premiums, putting pressure on the private economy. As a result, each country began to suffer from growing fiscal deficits, and social security systems (especially public pensions) began to be reviewed and scaled back.

There are two types of social security revenue and expenditure: funded and pay-as-you-go. The former pays pensions and other benefits from the profits of the investment of tax and insurance revenues in a fund. The latter does not have a fund, but collects taxes and insurance contributions from workers and pays them directly as pensions. In the 1980s, US President Ronald Reagan implemented an economic policy called Reaganomics, which argued that the primary cause of economic stagnation in the US was undersaving, and that one of the factors that brought about this was the pay-as-you-go system of social security. In other words, he argued that the social security taxes collected from working people and companies were paid directly to the elderly, and as a result, the savings made by the former were consumed by the latter in a macro sense. For this reason, he encouraged a self-help funded system, in other words, the accumulation of private savings made while working, which is received as a personal pension after retirement. Reaganomics thus aimed to transform the welfare state into an efficient state that makes use of the vitality of the private economy with a small fiscal scale, and it can be said to emphasize economic efficiency over social fairness. A similar reform was also carried out by British Prime Minister Thatcher.

Japan's social security system was significantly expanded in fiscal 1973 (Showa 48) by the Tanaka Kakuei Cabinet, marking the beginning of the welfare era, and this resulted in a huge increase in expenditures. After that, tax revenues stagnated due to the low growth rate following the oil crisis, and the fiscal deficit expanded. Furthermore, the rise in pension and medical expenses caused by the arrival of an aging society made it inevitable to switch from a funded system to a pay-as-you-go system, and since the major revision of the social security system in fiscal 1985, the system has been moving in the direction of lowering the level of various social security benefits and increasing the burden on the people.

[Tetsuya Hitosugi and Toru Haneda]

National Burden Rate

The tax burden of a citizen is expressed as a percentage of the national income. Similarly, there is the ratio of social security contributions to the national income, and the two together are called the national burden rate. In 2008, the national burden rate for Japan was estimated to be 25.1% for the former and 15.0% for the latter, totaling 40.1%. The elderly population ratio was 21.5% in 2007, and as this ratio rises, the latter will likely increase gradually, regardless of the former. For comparison, in major countries, in 2005, the former was 25.6% in the United States and 8.9% for the latter, totaling 34.5%, in the United Kingdom the former was 37.5% and 10.8%, totaling 48.3%, in Germany the former was 28.0% and 23.7%, totaling 51.7%, and in France the former was 37.6% and 24.6%, totaling 62.2%.

[Tetsuya Hitosugi and Toru Haneda]

"The National Federation of Health Insurance Societies' Social Security Yearbook, various years' editions (Toyo Keizai Inc.)" "National Institute of Population and Social Security Research's Social Security Statistics Yearbook, various years' editions (Hoken)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

社会保障は連帯感による相互扶助の精神に基づいて、老齢、疾病、失業などの原因による困難から、社会の構成員が互いに守り合うシステムであり、この経費を国家財政に計上したのが社会保障費（社会保障関係費）である。

［一杉哲也・羽田　亨］

日本の社会保障費

日本の国家財政（一般会計）における社会保障関係費は、(1)生活扶助、医療扶助などにかかわる生活保護費、(2)老人福祉、児童保護などの社会福祉費、(3)厚生年金、国民年金、国民健康保険などの社会保険費、(4)公衆衛生、医療の保健衛生対策費、そして(5)失業対策費からなっている。以上が狭義の（一般会計の）社会保障費であるが、広義にはこれに恩給、戦争犠牲者援護費が加わる。

　(1)はほとんど、地方公共団体が支出する保護費に対する国の補助であるが、近年、高齢化と不況の深刻化に伴い、生活保護費は急増しつつある。(2)の中心は老人福祉費であるが、このほか国民年金特別会計から支出される老齢福祉年金などとあわせて広義の老人福祉費を構成する。(5)の中心は雇用保険である。社会保障費中最大は(3)であり、従来の公的年金（厚生年金、国民年金）と国民健康保険に、2001年（平成13）4月新たに介護保険が加わった。

［一杉哲也・羽田　亨］

老齢化と社会保障費

第二次世界大戦後、先進国の多くは福祉国家への道を選んだ。その結果、社会福祉水準は著しく上昇したが、1973年のオイル・ショック前後から、社会保障費増大→税・保険料負担増大→民間経済圧迫と、これに伴う財政赤字増大に各国とも悩まされるようになり、社会保障制度（とくに公的年金）の見直しと縮小が行われるようになった。

　社会保障の収入・支出関係には、積立方式と賦課方式がある。前者は税・保険料で得た収入を基金に積み立てて運用した収益から年金等を支払うものである。後者は基金がなく、働いている人から税・保険料をとり、それを直接年金として支払うものである。1980年代、アメリカの大統領レーガンはレーガノミクスといわれる経済政策を展開したが、それはアメリカの経済停滞の原因の第一が過少貯蓄であり、それをもたらしたものの一つに社会保障の賦課方式があるとするものであった。すなわち働いている人と企業から徴収される社会保障税が、そのまま老人に支払われる結果、マクロ的に前者でなされた貯蓄が後者で消費されるためであるとした。このため自助による積立方式、すなわち働いているうちに私的に貯蓄積立てした累積を、引退後に個人年金として受け取ることを奨励した。レーガノミクスは、こうして福祉国家から、財政規模の小さい民間経済の活力を生かす効率国家への転換を目ざすもので、社会的公正より経済的効率を重視するものといえよう。同様の改革はイギリスの首相サッチャーによっても行われた。

　日本の社会保障制度は、田中角栄内閣によって、福祉元年として1973年度（昭和48）に大幅に拡大され、以後の歳出に巨大な当然増を残した。その後、オイル・ショック以降の低成長のため税収は停滞し、財政赤字が拡大した。さらに高齢化社会の到来による年金と医療費の増大は、積立方式から賦課方式への転換を必至として、1985年度の社会保障制度の大改訂を出発点に、以後、各種社会保障給付水準の引下げと国民負担増大の方向に向かいつつある。

［一杉哲也・羽田　亨］

国民負担率

一国民の租税負担を示すものとして、その国民所得に対する租税負担率がある。同様に社会保障負担の対国民所得比があり、両者をあわせて国民負担率という。日本の国民負担率は2008年度（平成20）の推計で、前者25.1％、後者15.0％、計40.1％である。老齢人口比率は2007年には21.5％であるが、この比率の上昇に伴い、前者はともかく、後者はしだいに増大していくであろう。なお、主要国とかりに比較してみると、2005年で、アメリカでは前者が25.6％、後者が8.9％、計34.5％、イギリスでは前者が37.5％、後者が10.8％、計48.3％、ドイツでは前者が28.0％、後者が23.7％、計51.7％、フランスでは前者が37.6％、後者が24.6％、計62.2％である。

［一杉哲也・羽田　亨］

『健康保険組合連合会編『社会保障年鑑』各年版（東洋経済新報社）』▽『国立社会保障・人口問題研究所編『社会保障統計年報』各年版（法研）』

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