An education ministry survey showed Wednesday that 43% of Japanese municipalities as of fiscal 2023 offered free school lunches or planned to do so by the end of the fiscal year in March, mainly to help child-rearing households reduce their financial burdens.
The number of such municipalities came to 775, according to the survey.
The ministry also released an estimate that it would cost about ¥510 billion annually to provide free school lunches nationwide if the average lunch fee at prefectural and municipal schools around the country is applied to national and private schools.