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Results of the 76th Opinion Survey on the General Public's Views and Behavior (December 2018 Survey)

January 16, 2019
Public Relations Department
Bank of Japan

Survey Outline

  • Survey period : From November 9 to December 5, 2018.
  • Population of the Survey : Individuals living in Japan who are at least 20 years of age.
  • Sample size : 4,000 people (2,113 people [i.e., 52.8 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
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Have improved (A) 9.6 8.6 7.4 7.3
Have remained the same 68.0 72.6 71.3 70.7
Have worsened (B) 22.0 18.5 20.7 21.6
D.I. (A) minus (B) -12.4 -9.9 -13.3 -14.3
Outlook for Economic Conditions One Year from Now Percent, percentage points
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Will improve (A) 9.3 8.2 9.4 7.8
Will remain the same 65.6 66.7 63.3 51.9
Will worsen (B) 24.5 24.8 26.5 39.8
D.I. (A) minus (B) -15.2 -16.6 -17.1 -32.0
Impression of Present Household Circumstances Compared with One Year Ago Percent, percentage points
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Have become better off (A) 6.1 7.1 7.2 6.4
Difficult to say 51.8 51.7 53.0 55.0
Have become worse off (B) 41.4 40.2 39.1 38.1
D.I. (A) minus (B) -35.3 -33.1 -31.9 -31.7
Perception of the Present Price Levels Compared with One Year Ago Percent
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Have gone up significantly 14.8 10.9 11.1 10.4
Have gone up slightly 58.7 58.9 58.0 59.2
Have remained almost unchanged 23.7 26.9 28.8 28.4
Have gone down slightly 1.8 2.3 1.2 1.4
Have gone down significantly 0.4 0.5 0.3 0.2
Outlook for Price Levels One Year from Now Percent
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Will go up significantly 6.9 8.3 9.3 10.0
Will go up slightly 67.0 69.1 66.7 67.5
Will remain almost unchanged 22.8 20.3 20.9 19.6
Will go down slightly 2.5 1.5 1.9 1.9
Will go down significantly 0.0 0.2 0.3 0.3
One of the Bank's Objectives Is to Achieve Price Stability Percent
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Know about it - 31.4 - 33.6
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it - 43.9 - 42.5
Have never heard of it - 24.4 - 23.8
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
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Know about it 29.0 27.1 30.6 28.5
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 36.4 32.0 37.5 29.9
Have never heard of it 33.6 40.8 31.4 41.2
The Bank Has Been Implementing Aggressive Monetary Easing Measures to Achieve the Price Stability Target of 2 Percent  Percent
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Know about it 29.3 39.1 30.9 39.5
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 39.9 37.7 41.0 38.2
Have never heard of it 29.5 23.0 27.7 22.0
The Bank Has Been Conducting "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control"  Percent
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Know about it 16.3 21.0 20.1 21.8
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 34.7 35.2 34.7 37.1
Have never heard of it 47.8 43.5 44.4 40.7
Confidence in the Bank Percent
73rd survey
(Mar 2018)
74th survey
(Jun 2018)
75th survey
(Sep 2018)
76th survey
(Dec 2018)
Confident - 13.4 - 13.0
Somewhat confident - 29.5 - 28.9
Difficult to say - 46.7 - 47.3
Not particularly confident - 6.9 - 7.5
Not confident - 2.7 - 2.6

Inquiries

Planning and Analysis Group, Public Relations Department

E-mail : prdmail@boj.or.jp