Free School Lunches Provided in 30% of Japanese Municipalities

According to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), the number of municipalities providing completely free school lunches to public elementary and junior high schools as of September 1, 2023, came to 547, or approximately 30% of the total 1,794 municipalities the ministry surveyed across Japan. This was a sevenfold increase compared to a similar survey held six years previously in fiscal 2017.

This time’s results showed that 722 municipalities were providing free school lunches, while a further 40 were planning to do so. There were 13 municipalities that had previously provided such programs, but were not at the time of the survey.

Of the 722 municipalities with programs in place, 547 stated that “all students at both elementary and junior high schools are eligible,” a notable increase from the 76 that had stated so in fiscal 2017. Some municipalities had limited the amount of support being provided, such as the program only being available to “elementary schools only” or “junior high schools only.”

When asked why they had implemented a free school lunch program, with multiple responses possible, 652 or 90.3% of municipalities cited that it was “to reduce the financial burden on parents and support the raising of children.” A further 66, or 9.1%, stated it was “a measure to combat the declining birthrate (providing support in expectation of increasing the number of children),” and 37, or 5.1% said it was “to promote relocation and settlement in the area (in expectation of increasing the population).”

Of the 722 municipalities running free school lunch programs, 525 (72.7%) stated they “plan to keep providing it from fiscal 2024 onward”, 115 (15.9%) were “currently considering” this option, and 82 (11.4%) said they were “not planning to provide it”.

Meanwhile, the average monthly cost of school lunches, based on the price of ingredients, was ¥4,688 for elementary school and ¥5,367 for junior high school. This was a rise of approximately 8% in the most recent five years and around a 12% increase over the last decade. A comparison by prefecture showed that, in the case of elementary school lunches, Shiga had the lowest cost with ¥3,933, while Fukushima had the highest at ¥5,314. Shiga was again the lowest in the case of junior high school lunches with ¥4,493 and Toyama was highest with ¥6,282.

MEXT assessed that significant funding would be required in order to develop the free school lunch programs on a nationwide scale. Based on the average cost of school lunches for public schools and calculating in both public and private schools, the forecast annual total needed would be ¥510 billion.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)