More Japanese aged 60 or older have no close friends compared with their contemporaries in three other countries surveyed, a government poll released Friday said.

Of Japanese respondents to the survey, 25.9 percent said they do not have friends to help them in need, other than relatives. The portion was 17.1 percent in Germany, 11.9 percent in the United States and 8.9 percent in Sweden, according to the Cabinet Office.

Also, when in sickness, only 5.9 percent of respondents in Japan, the lowest ratio, offer to help their neighbors, underlining a sharp contrast with 31.9 percent in Germany. The rate was 27.0 percent in the U.S. and 16.9 percent in Sweden.

Highlighting that the elderly in Japan have a tendency to be more isolated, the Cabinet Office said, "We need to enable the elderly to participate more in local communities to prevent them from being isolated."

The survey was conducted between October and December last year on about 1,000 people in each of the four countries, and excluded those living in nursing homes.

Regarding the level of savings and assets for retirement, 57.0 percent of the Japanese said they were "not sufficiently" prepared, showing big gaps with the U.S. at 24.9 percent, Sweden at 18.9 percent and Germany at 18.0 percent.

Asked about whether they had made any post-retirement preparations by their 50s, 42.7 percent of Japanese said they had done nothing, compared with 26.1 percent in Germany, 25.4 percent in Sweden and 20.9 percent in the U.S.