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Results of the 85th Opinion Survey on the General Public's Views and Behavior (March 2021 Survey)

April 7, 2021
Public Relations Department
Bank of Japan

Survey Outline

  • Survey period : From February 5 to March 3, 2021.
  • 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
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Have improved (A) 0.9 0.6 1.1 1.0
Have remained the same 26.0 22.4 27.2 27.6
Have worsened (B) 72.1 76.2 71.3 70.4
D.I. (A) minus (B) -71.2 -75.6 -70.2 -69.4
Outlook for Economic Conditions One Year from Now Percent, percentage points
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Will improve (A) 19.3 14.3 14.4 23.1
Will remain the same 32.9 43.5 47.7 44.3
Will worsen (B) 47.0 40.9 37.5 31.6
D.I. (A) minus (B) -27.7 -26.6 -23.1 -8.5
Impression of Present Household Circumstances Compared with One Year Ago Percent, percentage points
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Have become better off (A) 5.0 5.5 4.2 6.3
Difficult to say 51.3 54.9 56.7 55.0
Have become worse off (B) 42.6 38.8 38.1 38.0
D.I. (A) minus (B) -37.6 -33.3 -33.9 -31.7
Perception of the Present Price Levels Compared with One Year Ago Percent
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Have gone up significantly 10.8 10.1 9.2 5.2
Have gone up slightly 52.1 55.8 51.3 43.9
Have remained almost unchanged 32.4 29.2 34.6 44.3
Have gone down slightly 2.5 2.5 3.9 5.0
Have gone down significantly 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.6
Outlook for Price Levels One Year from Now Percent
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Will go up significantly 9.7 8.5 6.3 5.8
Will go up slightly 57.0 54.8 53.7 56.6
Will remain almost unchanged 23.0 28.7 31.2 30.6
Will go down slightly 7.6 5.9 7.2 5.8
Will go down significantly 1.1 0.7 0.4 0.3
One of the Bank's Objectives Is to Achieve Price Stability Percent
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
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
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Know about it 19.5 18.9 20.2 18.1
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 31.0 37.3 30.9 29.3
Have never heard of it 48.9 42.8 48.4 51.6
The Bank Has Been Implementing Aggressive Monetary Easing Measures to Achieve the Price Stability Target of 2 Percent  Percent
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Know about it 35.3 24.4 34.8 23.0
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 39.8 39.6 38.7 33.2
Have never heard of it 24.2 35.0 26.1 42.7
The Bank Has Been Conducting "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control"  Percent
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
Know about it 19.1 14.3 17.6 13.8
Have read or heard of it, but do not know much about it 35.6 34.2 34.7 25.5
Have never heard of it 44.5 50.7 47.1 59.4
Confidence in the Bank Percent
82nd survey
(Jun 2020)
83rd survey
(Sep 2020)
84th survey
(Dec 2020)
85th survey
(Mar 2021)
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