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Results of the 71st Opinion Survey on the General Public's Views and Behavior (September 2017 Survey)

October 13, 2017
Public Relations Department
Bank of Japan

Survey Outline

  • Survey period : From August 10 to September 5, 2017.
  • Population of the Survey : Individuals living in Japan who are at least 20 years of age.
  • Sample size : 4,000 people (2,134 people [i.e., 53.4 percent of the overall sample size] provided valid responses to questions).
  • Sampling method : Stratified two-stage random sampling method.
  • Survey methodology : Questionnaire survey (mail survey method).
Impression of Present Economic Conditions Compared with One Year Ago Percent, percentage points
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Have improved (A) 4.4 6.2 6.5 7.6
Have remained the same 65.8 68.9 70.3 71.0
Have worsened (B) 29.2 24.3 22.7 21.1
D.I. (A) minus (B) -24.8 -18.1 -16.2 -13.5
Outlook for Economic Conditions One Year from Now Percent, percentage points
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Will improve (A) 6.3 8.6 7.5 7.5
Will remain the same 60.7 64.3 67.2 66.4
Will worsen (B) 32.7 26.6 24.8 25.5
D.I. (A) minus (B) -26.4 -18.0 -17.3 -18.0
Impression of Present Household Circumstances Compared with One Year Ago Percent, percentage points
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Have become better off (A) 4.6 6.1 5.9 7.3
Difficult to say 52.3 55.1 54.5 53.0
Have become worse off (B) 42.9 38.5 38.8 39.2
D.I. (A) minus (B) -38.3 -32.4 -32.9 -31.9
Perception of the Present Price Levels Compared with One Year Ago Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Have gone up significantly 14.3 10.5 9.8 7.8
Have gone up slightly 55.8 53.3 57.6 55.4
Have remained almost unchanged 26.4 32.8 29.6 33.1
Have gone down slightly 2.7 2.2 2.0 2.8
Have gone down significantly 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3
Outlook for Price Levels One Year from Now Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Will go up significantly 6.9 5.6 7.7 6.2
Will go up slightly 57.8 61.4 67.7 64.2
Will remain almost unchanged 30.3 29.7 21.6 26.7
Will go down slightly 4.3 2.5 2.3 1.7
Will go down significantly 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.2
One of the Bank's Objectives Is to Achieve Price Stability Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Know about it 31.5 - 32.4 -
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 47.4 - 45.0 -
Have never heard of it 20.8 - 22.3 -
The Bank Has Set the Price Stability Target at 2 Percent in terms of the Year-on-Year Rate of Change in the CPI  Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Know about it 28.6 29.6 27.7 26.7
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 33.2 37.8 31.8 35.7
Have never heard of it 37.9 32.2 40.2 36.7
The Bank Has Been Implementing Aggressive Monetary Easing Measures to Achieve the Price Stability Target of 2 Percent  Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Know about it 43.2 33.8 40.1 28.1
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 37.7 39.6 40.0 38.4
Have never heard of it 18.8 26.0 19.6 32.1
The Bank Has Been Conducting "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control"  Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Know about it 24.4 20.6 23.3 16.5
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 37.7 35.1 38.7 33.1
Have never heard of it 37.4 43.2 37.7 49.1
Confidence in the Bank Percent
68th survey
(Dec 2016)
69th survey
(Mar 2017)
70th survey
(Jun 2017)
71st survey
(Sep 2017)
Confident 12.5 - 14.0 -
Somewhat confident 27.2 - 30.3 -
Difficult to say 49.5 - 46.5 -
Not particularly confident 7.2 - 6.1 -
Not confident 3.1 - 2.6 -

Inquiries

Planning and Analysis Group, Public Relations Department

E-mail : prdmail@boj.or.jp