Vacancies Among Japan's Community Welfare Commissioners Reach 20,091 — The Quota Rose by 424 While 4,476 Fewer People Took the Role

December 2022Filled 93.7%

Quota

240,547

Appointed

225,356

Vacancies

15,191

December 2025Filled 91.7%

Quota

240,971

Appointed

220,880

Vacancies

20,091

Of the 220,880 appointed in December 2025, 69,207 (31.3%) were new and 151,673 (68.7%) were reappointed. The quota is 424 higher than three years earlier; what has fallen is the number of people willing to take the role.

A quota of 240,971 against 220,880 appointed

Community welfare commissioners serve three-year terms, and the whole country is reappointed at each expiry. The results the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published in January 2026 read as follows.

Against a quota of 240,971, some 220,880 were appointed[1]. That leaves 20,091 vacancies on our own subtraction, against a published fill rate of 91.7%[1].

The quota rose and the takers fell

Set beside the previous round, the side that moved is clear. In December 2022 the quota was 240,547 with 225,356 appointed, a fill rate of 93.7%[1].

The quota is up 424. Appointments are down 4,476. What is called for rose; only the number of people willing to do it fell.

Vacancies went from 11,476 to 20,091 across two rounds

The round before that is worth adding. In December 2019 the quota was 239,682 with 228,206 appointed[2], leaving 11,476 vacancies.

Vacancies rose by 8,615 across two rounds. The quota rose at both; appointments fell at both.

68.7% of those appointed are continuing

The composition of the 220,880 shows who is carrying it. New appointees number 69,207, or 31.3%, and reappointments 151,673, or 68.7%[1].

The previous round looked similar. In 2022 there were 72,070 new appointees at 32.0% and 153,286 reappointments at 68.0%[2]. The absolute number of new appointees is down 2,863.

Close to seven in ten are carrying over from the previous term. New entrants are three in ten. Each round is filled by reappointment.

The role is unpaid and the term is three years

Commissioners are unpaid part-time special-service officials appointed by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. They take enquiries from residents in an assigned district and connect them to support. Public assistance applications, checking on older people, questions about raising children. The role catches what arrives before the government counter does.

The framework is set out in an appendix. They are special-service local public officials of the prefecture, serving three-year terms, bound by confidentiality and unpaid. Activity costs are counted into the local allocation tax calculation[3]. The governing statute is the Community Welfare Commissioners Act, and under Article 16 of the Child Welfare Act they also serve as child welfare commissioners[3].

Appointment runs through three stages. A municipal nominating committee recommends, the prefectural governor recommends, and the minister appoints, with the local social welfare council giving its view[3].

An urban district is 220 to 440 households

There is a standard for how much ground one commissioner covers. A district is 220 to 440 households in urban areas (Tokyo's 23 wards and designated cities) and 70 to 200 households in towns and villages[3].

One vacancy corresponds to a district of 220 to 440 households in a city, or 70 to 200 in a town or village. Whether that district is actually left uncovered depends on how neighbouring commissioners absorb it.

The duties are listed too. Consultation and support, surveys and fact-finding, attending events and meetings, community welfare activity, regular meetings and training, certification work, and home visits[3].

The quota does not fall by itself when takers dry up

Setting the quota has a particular feature. The prefectural governor sets it by ordinance after hearing the mayors. A national reference standard based on population and household numbers exists, adjusted for local circumstances. It does not come down automatically because fewer people will take the role.

Okinawa is at 72.0% and Toyama at 99.2%

The national fill rate is 91.7%, but the spread is wide. The appendix gives a prefectural breakdown (excluding designated and core cities).

The lowest is Okinawa, with 1,432 appointed against a quota of 1,990, a fill rate of 72.0%[4]. Close to 20 points below the national average.

Next come Tokyo at 84.4% (8,707 against 10,311), Saitama at 87.1%, Osaka at 87.9%, Aomori at 88.3% and Chiba at 88.4%[4].

At the other end are Toyama at 99.2% (1,690 against 1,703), Ehime at 98.8%, Tokushima at 98.6% and Nagano at 97.6%[4].

Nine prefectures fall below 90% and thirteen are at 95% or above[4].

• Okinawa72.0%quota 1,990 / appointed 1,432
• Tokyo84.4%quota 10,311 / appointed 8,707
• Saitama87.1%
• Osaka87.9%
• Aomori88.3%
• Chiba88.4%
• (National)91.7%nine prefectures below 90%
• Nagano97.6%
• Tokushima98.6%
• Ehime98.8%
• Toyama99.2%quota 1,703 / appointed 1,690

Designated cities have the lowest fill rate

The three tiers differ as well. The prefectural tier (excluding designated and core cities) appointed 143,281 against 155,987, or 91.9%; designated cities 38,798 against 43,139, or 89.9%; core cities 38,801 against 41,845, or 92.7%[4].

Designated cities are the lowest of the three. Individually, Kawasaki appointed 1,428 against a quota of 1,930, or 74.0%, the lowest of the 20 designated cities[4]. Kumamoto follows at 84.3%, Hiroshima at 86.8% and Yokohama at 87.5%. At the top are Kyoto at 97.8% and Hamamatsu at 97.0%.

These urban areas are where districts are set widest, at 220 to 440 households.

A quota is what turns a shortfall into a number

Here a comparison with the volunteer fire corps, covered the day before, is useful.

As 37,757 joined against 52,215 who left（このサイトの記事） showed, volunteer firefighters fell to 732,223 in 2025. Fire corps do have an ordinance establishment, and the shortfall appears as 130,402 against 862,625.

Commissioners work the same way. Because a quota exists, the same phenomenon appears as "20,091 vacancies" and "a fill rate of 91.7%".

That matters for what can be done about it. With a vacancy figure, it is possible to say where and how many are short. Results are published by prefecture, designated city and core city. The gap between Okinawa at 72.0% and Toyama at 99.2% is visible because a quota exists.

Shortfalls among people who carry no quota are not smaller. They simply do not become numbers.

1. December 2019quota 239,682 / appointed 228,206
   ↓ 11,476 vacancies
2. December 2022quota 240,547 / appointed 225,356
   ↓ 15,191 vacancies
3. December 2025quota 240,971 / appointed 220,88020,091 vacancies, fill rate 91.7%

The quota rose at both changeovers and appointments fell at both. Vacancies rose by 8,615 across two rounds.

What a 68.7% reappointment rate means

What holds the system up now is the people continuing. When that cohort steps back together, vacancies widen further. While new entrants stay at three in ten, the turnover cannot be absorbed.

The absolute number of new appointees is down as well, from 72,070 in 2022 to 69,207. The reappointment share has held not because new entrants grew.

Who is in a position to take it on

The difficulty of finding people echoes the fire corps. Someone who lives locally and can move during the day. The post-retirement generation carried the role, but working lives have lengthened and family care has landed on the same people. As paid short-hours work spreads — fiscal-year appointments among them — taking on an unpaid three-year term is chosen less often.

Provision and reach have to be counted separately, as exclusion and non-take-up（このサイトの記事） sets out; commissioners are the reaching side. Twenty thousand vacancies in the role of finding people who cannot come to the counter means the group nobody reaches widens by that much.

What is not known

What is known: the quota and appointments, the split between new and continuing, and the regional breakdown. Three things are not.

The first is who covers the districts left vacant. Whether neighbouring commissioners double up or districts are merged is not in this document.

The second is why Okinawa is at 72.0%. The reasons behind the regional spread are outside this document's scope.

The third is how many fall out at the nomination stage. A municipal committee recommends, the governor recommends, the minister appoints. Appointments are known; how many districts never reached a nomination is not published.

Further Reading

• 『人口減少社会のデザイン』 (Designing a Society with a Shrinking Population)（外部サイト、新しいタブで開きます） (Yoshinori Hiroi, Toyo Keizai). An argument for reorganising society on the assumption that the population will fall. Useful for thinking about the limits of arrangements that assume people are there locally.

References

Results of the FY2025 Nationwide Renewal of Community Welfare Commissioners — MHLW, Community Welfare Division (2026). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Results of the FY2022 Nationwide Renewal of Community Welfare Commissioners — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2022). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

About Community Welfare Commissioners — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2026). Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare