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Results of the 84th Opinion Survey on the General Public's Views and Behavior (December 2020 Survey)

January 12, 2021
Public Relations Department
Bank of Japan

Survey Outline

  • Survey period : From November 6 to December 2, 2020.
  • Population of the Survey : Individuals living in Japan who are at least 20 years of age.
  • Sample size : 4,000 people (2,244 people [i.e., 56.1 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
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Have improved (A) 3.3 0.9 0.6 1.1
Have remained the same 56.0 26.0 22.4 27.2
Have worsened (B) 39.6 72.1 76.2 71.3
D.I. (A) minus (B) -36.3 -71.2 -75.6 -70.2
Outlook for Economic Conditions One Year from Now Percent, percentage points
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Will improve (A) 5.8 19.3 14.3 14.4
Will remain the same 45.4 32.9 43.5 47.7
Will worsen (B) 48.0 47.0 40.9 37.5
D.I. (A) minus (B) -42.2 -27.7 -26.6 -23.1
Impression of Present Household Circumstances Compared with One Year Ago Percent, percentage points
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Have become better off (A) 6.1 5.0 5.5 4.2
Difficult to say 50.8 51.3 54.9 56.7
Have become worse off (B) 42.2 42.6 38.8 38.1
D.I. (A) minus (B) -36.1 -37.6 -33.3 -33.9
Perception of the Present Price Levels Compared with One Year Ago Percent
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Have gone up significantly 10.8 10.8 10.1 9.2
Have gone up slightly 53.2 52.1 55.8 51.3
Have remained almost unchanged 32.4 32.4 29.2 34.6
Have gone down slightly 2.1 2.5 2.5 3.9
Have gone down significantly 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.2
Outlook for Price Levels One Year from Now Percent
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Will go up significantly 6.1 9.7 8.5 6.3
Will go up slightly 62.3 57.0 54.8 53.7
Will remain almost unchanged 26.6 23.0 28.7 31.2
Will go down slightly 3.5 7.6 5.9 7.2
Will go down significantly 0.5 1.1 0.7 0.4
One of the Bank's Objectives Is to Achieve Price Stability Percent
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Know about it - 27.8 - 27.6
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it - 46.4 - 43.9
Have never heard of it - 25.2 - 28.1
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
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Know about it 20.7 19.5 18.9 20.2
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 35.6 31.0 37.3 30.9
Have never heard of it 42.9 48.9 42.8 48.4
The Bank Has Been Implementing Aggressive Monetary Easing Measures to Achieve the Price Stability Target of 2 Percent  Percent
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Know about it 22.9 35.3 24.4 34.8
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 37.6 39.8 39.6 38.7
Have never heard of it 38.3 24.2 35.0 26.1
The Bank Has Been Conducting "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control"  Percent
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Know about it 14.2 19.1 14.3 17.6
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 30.4 35.6 34.2 34.7
Have never heard of it 54.1 44.5 50.7 47.1
Confidence in the Bank Percent
81st survey
(Mar 2020)
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
Confident - 13.7 - 14.7
Somewhat confident - 28.5 - 30.2
Difficult to say - 47.3 - 46.9
Not particularly confident - 6.9 - 5.3
Not confident - 2.1 - 2.0

Inquiries

Planning and Analysis Group, Public Relations Department

E-mail : prdmail@boj.or.jp