According to the Cabinet Office’s Public Opinion Survey on National Life released on Aug. 27, 48.1% of respondents are “satisfied” or “fairly satisfied” with their incomes. Meanwhile, a total of 42.0% said the same about their assets and savings. Both figures mark the second straight year of improvement in this annual poll. When asked about the future, however, 25.8% said their lifestyles “will worsen” while only 8.7% said they “will improve.”

The share of respondents who expressed satisfaction came to 81.4% for housing and 62.2% for leisure time, both hitting record highs. The Cabinet Office official in charge of the survey commented, “The survey results likely reflect the Shunto (spring offensive) wage increases and the rise in the number of employed persons.”

When asked for their requests for the government (multiple answers permitted), the most frequently selected answer was “improvement of social security, including healthcare and pensions” (64.4%), followed by “economic measures” (56.2%) and “measures to address the aging of society” (51.9%). “Disaster prevention” was 25.7%, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous survey.

The poll covered 10,000 men and women from June 23 to July 10. The Cabinet Office included respondents aged 18 and 19 for the first time on account of the reduction of the voting age from 20 to 18. The valid response rate was 62.8%.