Average annual household income rose 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 5,804,000 yen in 2004 for the first rise in eight years, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's national livelihood survey released Wednesday.
However, the gap between lower- and higher-income households widened from the previous year because the average income of lower-income households dropped. Those who said life was "hard" accounted for a record 56.2 percent of all respondents, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier.
Of the five designated income brackets, the three lower groups -- those with annual income no higher than 5.74 million yen -- saw incomes drop from a year ago, while the higher two groups saw incomes rise.