Size and Scope of NPOs
Numbers of Different Nonprofits in Japan
| Status of Legal Entities | Number of existing entities | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Specified Nonprofit Corporation | 49,431 | April 2025 |
| *Approved Specified Nonprofit Corporation (among Specified Nonprofit Corporation) |
1,297 | April 2025 |
| Public Interest Corporation | 9,658 | May 2022 |
| General Corporation | 74,683 | May 2022 |
| Social Welfare Corporation | 21,086 | April 2024 |
| Private School Corporation | 6,700+ | May 2023 |
| Religious Corporation | 178,921 | December 2023 |
| Medical Corporation | 58,902 | March 2024 |
| Original Source: Specified Nonprofit Corporations: The Cabinet Office NPO Public Interest Corporations & General Corporations: The Japan Foundation Center Social Welfare Corporations: Welfare and Medical Service Network System List of School Corporations under the Jurisdiction of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Religious Corporations: Religious Yearbook, Agency for Cultural Affairs Medical Corporations: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (numbers updated by JNPOC) |
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Top 20 Charity Categories of Specified Nonprofit Corporation
(As of 31 March 2020, Source: The Cabinet Office NPO Homepage)
Budget Size of Specified Nonprofit Corporations
Total revenue from nonprofit activities
Source: Heisei 29-nen Tokutei hieiri katsudo hojin ni kansuru Jittai chosa hokokusho, The Cabinet Office
Revenue breakdown of Specified Nonprofit Corporations
Source: Heisei 29-nendo Tokutei hieiri katsudo hojin no jittai oyobi nintei tokutei hieiri katsudo hojin no riyojokyo ni kansuru chosa, The Cabinet Office
Internal Structure of Average Japanese Nonprofit Organization
Number of staff members
Over a half of Specified Nonprofit Corporations only have 0 to 5 paid staff members. Median staff members are five persons, and among them three are paid and one is full-time paid staff. This suggests that in Japan many staff work for small-sized nonprofit organizations without salary.
Number of paid staff members
Average salary of staff members
Overall, the median of annual staff salary is 1.38 million yen (about US$12,800; $1=108 yen) overall and 2.32 million yen for full-time staff, whereas average annual salary for private companies in Japan is 4.32 million yen.
Sources: Heisei 29-nen Tokutei hieiri katsudo hojin ni kansuru Jittai chosa hokokusho, The Cabinet Office. Heisei 29-nendo-bun minkan kyuyo jittai tokei chosa, National Tax Administration Agency.
Number of volunteers
In 2017 an average Specified Nonprofit Corporation had about ten volunteers annually that engaged in their activities. On the other hand, about 21.1% of organizations did not have any volunteers in their activities.