No. of homeless people down 6,700 to 18,500

The number of homeless people in Japan decreased from about 25,300 four years ago to about 18,500 as of January this year apparently due to economic recovery and welfare, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday. "It is apparently a result of employment due to economic recovery and state assistance measures," a ministry official said.

The ministry conducted the survey in January following the first of its kind in 2003, by consigning the project to prefectural governments across Japan with prefectural officials visually counting the number of homeless people living at parks, riversides, roads, stations or other public facilities. By prefecture, the homeless population was largest in Osaka at 4,911, followed by Tokyo at 4,690, Kanagawa at 2,020, Fukuoka at 1,177 and Aichi at 1,023.