1.
person in need; the destitute; the needy
A person suffering from severe poverty or hardship. A formal term used in social welfare, government policy, and news reporting.
生活困窮者を支援する。
To support people in financial need.
困窮者向けの相談窓口が設置された。
A consultation counter for people in need was set up.
コロナ禍で生活困窮者が急増し、自治体が対策に追われた。
The COVID pandemic caused a sharp increase in people in financial need, and local governments struggled to respond.
Most commonly appears in the compound 生活困窮者 (person in financial hardship), which is the official term used in Japanese welfare law (生活困窮者自立支援法 — the Act on Self-Reliance Support for Needy Persons). The suffix 者 marks this as a formal, categorical label for a type of person, making it appropriate for policy and news contexts rather than everyday conversation.