The Japanese government says the nation’s poverty rate rose to a record 16 percent in 2009.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry says the figure is the highest since the government began to compile the data in 1985. The 2009 rate is 0.3 percentage points higher than the last previous survey in 2006.

Japan’s poverty rate is measured by the proportion of people earning less than half of the country’s median income of $28,000 a year.

The ministry says the poverty rate for children aged 17 or younger rose to a record high of 15.7 percent in 2009.