Home > Statistics > National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure > 2009 National Survey of Family Income and Expenditures Definitions of Terms
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In this survey, households are divided into two-or-more-person households and one-person households. Total households are the sum of these two groups.
Two-or-more-person households are defined as a group of two-or-more-persons sharing dwelling and living expenses. One-person households refer to persons living by himself (herself), persons living with ordinary household but keeping an independent budget, or individual persons residing in a dormitory, boarding house or lodging house.
A household head is not a person nominally so called, but one earning the substantial income of the household.
Number of household members refers to the number of persons in a household, including household head and family members as well as domestic helpers sharing residence and living expenses and live-in employees. Excluded are family members who live separately and persons who live in a household but do not share living expenses.
Earners refer to members of a household who are employed, self-employed, family workers and home-workers. Domestic helpers sharing residence and live-in employees are not counted in the number of earners.
Workers' households refer to the households whose heads are employed in companies, governments, schools, factories, shops etc. The households whose heads are executives of companies or corporations, however, are classified as other households.
Other households refer to the households other than workers' households.
Characteristics of households are surveyed as of 1st September 2009 (one-person households are surveyed as of 1st October 2009), but any changes occurred during the survey period were reflected in the tabulation, regarded as being taken place on 1st October or on 1st November depending on the time of these changes.
The occupational classification used in this survey is unique in the sense that it is based on a combination of occupation, industry and employment status. It differs from the Japan Standard Occupational Classification.
Family composition refers to a classification based on the relationship to the household head. It groups households in three types; "Nucleus family", "Households of couple and parents" and "Households of couple, children and parents". The first group is consisted of a married couple only or parent(s) and unmarried children. The unmarried children are further break-downed according to the number of children and the age of the eldest child and his or her school attendance.
This is a classification based on whether household head, his (or her) spouse or other members have jobs or not.
Number of tabulated households refers to the total number of households actually used in the survey. Distribution of households (based on the adjusted sampling ratio) in the 2009 survey is equal to the product of multiplication of the tabulated number of households by the adjustment coefficient and the correction coefficient.
Adjustment coefficients refer to coefficients which are proportionate to the inverse number of the sampling ratios. Correction coefficients refer to coefficients for correction of bias in the distribution of household attributes, for two-or-more-person households in respect of 10 districts and 4 groups by number of household persons, for one-person households in respect of 6 districts, sex and 3 age-groups, which are given by the results of the Labour Force Survey.
The sampling ratios differ from one city, town and village to another.
It is noted that tabulation is made so that the number of survey months, which may be different according to household, is adjusted for each household.
1/10000 ratio shows the distribution of households (based on adjusting sampling ratio) where the number of households is assumed to equal to 10,000.
The specific households which are tabulated in this survey are as follows.
(1) Dual-income households - households which are classified as workers' households and whose head and his (or her) spouse have their own jobs. However, the households with income from agriculture, forestry or fisheries are excluded.
(2) Household head not working - household whose head has no occupation.
(3) Households of mother and children - households with mother and children of less than 18 years of age.
(4) Households repaying housing loans; households having no housing loans - households possessing loans of more than 10,000 yen for purchasing houses and/or land as of November 30, 2009 in any houses and those not possessing loans in owned houses.
(5) Households living rented houses and rooms
(6) A married couple and unmarried children, of which household head is the sole earner - households which are classified as workers' households, and consist of a married couple and one or more unmarried children and with head as the only one earner.
(7) Married couple only or married couple and unmarried children
(8) Other specific households - households with members not working and seeking work, households with university or college students, households owing cars, households with member of official certification for nursing care needs and households with members away from home.
The households with aged persons which are tabulated in this survey are as follows.
(1) Households receiving annuities and pensions, etc. - households receiving public annuities and pensions, households receiving company and private pensions, households living mainly on public annuities and pensions, and households living mainly on company and private pensions.
(2) Households with aged persons - households with members not working 65 years old and over, households with aged couple (households whose husband 65 years old and over and wife 60 years old and over, both 65 years old and over), and households comprising an aged couple only (husband 60 years old and over).
Cities are grouped according to the size of population of each city, town and village based on the 2005 Population Census results. The name of each municipality was based on that of 1st January 2009. The groups are as follows.
| Major cities: | Designated cities under article 252-19 of the Local Autonomy Law (Sapporo-shi, Sendai-shi, Saitama-shi, Chiba-shi, Yokohama-shi, Kawasaki-shi, Niigata-shi, Shizuoka-shi, Hamamatsu-shi, Nagoya-shi, Kyoto-shi, Osaka-shi, Sakai-shi, Kobe-shi, Hiroshima-shi, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka-shi) and Ku-area of Tokyo |
| Middle cities: | CCities with 150,000 or more inhabitants but less than one million excluding major cities (141 cities). |
| Small cities A: | Cities with 50,000 or more inhabitants but less than 150,000 (379 cities). |
| Small cities B, Towns and villages: | Cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants (246 cities) and, towns and villages (219 towns and villages). |
Districts are classified into ten by grouping prefectures. They are as follows.
| Hokkaido district: | Hokkaido. |
| Tohoku district: | Aomori-ken, Iwate-ken, Miyagi-ken, Akita-ken, Yamagata-ken and Fukushima-ken. |
| Kanto district: | Ibaraki-ken, Tochigi-ken, Gunma-ken, Saitama-ken, Chiba-ken, Tokyo-to, Kanagawa-ken, Yamanashi-ken and Nagano-ken. |
| Hokuriku district: | Niigata-ken, Toyama-ken, Ishikawa-ken and Fukui-ken. |
| Tokai district: | Gifu-ken, Shizuoka-ken, Aichi-ken and Mie-ken. |
| Kinki district: | Shiga-ken, Kyoto-fu, Osaka-fu, Hyogo-ken, Nara-ken and Wakayama-ken. |
| Chugoku district: | Tottori-ken, Shimane-ken, Okayama-ken, Hiroshima-ken and Yamaguchi-ken. |
| Shikoku district: | Tokushima-ken, Kagawa-ken, Ehime-ken and Kochi-ken. |
| Kyushu district: | Fukuoka-ken, Saga-ken, Nagasaki-ken, Kumamoto-ken, Oita-ken, Miyazaki-ken and Kagoshima-ken. |
| Okinawa district: | Okinawa-ken. |
Major metropolitan areas refer to the regions consisting of the major cities defined above as the core and surrounding municipalities which are closely associated with the designated cities socially and economically. They are Kanto Metropolitan Area the core cities being Ku-area of Tokyo, Yokohama-shi, Kawasaki-shi, Saitama-shi and Chiba-shi; Chukyo Metropolitan Area the core cities being Nagoya-shi; Kinki Metropolitan Area the core cities being Kyoto-shi, Osaka-shi, Sakai-shi and Kobe-shi; and Kitakyushu and Fukuoka Metropolitan Area the core cities being Kitakyushu-shi and Fukuoka-shi.
Setting of the major metropolitan areas is based on the criteria adopted in the 2005 Population Census. These are as follows:
(1) The core cities are the designated cities under article 252-19 of the Local Autonomy Law or Ku-area of Tokyo.
(2) The surrounding municipalities are those where the number of commuting population aged 15 and over to one of the core cities accounts for at least 1.5 percent of the resident population of each municipality, and each municipality is adjoining one of the core cities. Any municipalities surrounded by those satisfying the above criterion are also counted as such even though the commuting population rate is less than 1.5 percent.
(3) In the case where the core cities are close to one another, these formed one metropolitan area together with the surrounding municipalities.
Municipality groups within prefectures are regional classification sets for this survey to get detail data on household expenditures in smaller regional units than prefectures. Each group consists of neighboring cities, wards, towns and villages within prefectures.
Yearly income groups refer to the yearly income for December 2008 to November 2009 on the basis of the data obtained from "Yearly Income and Savings Questionnaire". In the case of the yearly income unreported, it was estimated according to occupation of household head, living expenditures, age of household head and the number of earners. In the tables of Major Durable Goods, Savings and Liabilities, however, the yearly income unreported was left unestimated.
Monthly income groups such as money income groups and groups of regular wages and salaries of household heads used in workers' households are based on the average of the income or the regular wages and salaries for three months from September to November 2009 in case of two-or-more-person households and for two months from October to November of the same year in case of one-person households.
Income decile groups refers to 10 groups of equal size, in order from the lowest annual household income to the highest, with the order proceeding "I, II, III" from the lowest income to "X" for the top.
Income quintile groups on the other hand, pair annual income deciles, I and II, III and IV and so on in single groups in order, I, II, III, up to V, starting with the lowest income segment.
Quartiles refer to a value of the point where any one-quarter of the households arranged in the order of values of any items adjoin the next one-quarter. From lower to higher values, they are termed the first quartile, the second quartile and the third quartile. The second quartile is called "median".
Grouping according to the total amount savings and of liability and housing loan is made on the basis of the data obtained from the "Yearly Income and Savings Questionnaire".
"Rented houses, privately owned (facilities used exclusively)" are defined as houses rented from a real estate company or an individual, whose kitchen sinks and rest rooms are exclusively used.
"Issued houses" are defined as dwellings which are owned or managed by companies, governments or corporations for their employees. Dwellings constructed for one-person households are called "Dormitories".
"Common houses" refer to edifices where there are two or more residences and which share corridors or steps, or buildings containing two or more houses vertically constructed.
Total floor spaces denote the total floor areas of houses and attached rooms. In the case of common houses such as apartment houses, company's houses, etc. where corridors, kitchens or toilets are shared, the total floor spaces cover only the spaces exclusively used by the household concerned with the exclusion of the shared spaces.
Spaces used for business such as for offices and shops are excluded.
Land area of dwelling houses is site on which houses are built, land of housing lot on the register though is vacant lot or farm at present, and land on which houses will be built in the future though is forest, field and farm land on the register.
"Receipts" are classified into three major categories: "income", "receipts other than income" and "carry-over from the previous month".
"Income" includes wages and salaries, income through business and homework, returns from assets, social security benefits and so forth.
"Receipts other than income" refers to the decrease in assets or the increase in debts, such as saving deposits cashed, selling of valuable securities, loans and monthly installments.
"Carry-over from the previous month" refers to the amount of cash on hand at the beginning of the month.
"Disbursements" are divided into four categories: "living expenditures" (which is, what is called, living cost), "non-living expenditures" (deductions from receipts such as taxes, social insurance and so forth), "disbursements other than expenditures" (the increase in assets or decrease in liabilities such as savings and debt payments) and "carry-over to the next month" (the amount of cash on hand at the end of month). The summation of "living expenditures" and "non-living expenditures" is called "expenditures".
The above statement can be summarized as follows:
Receipts = Income + Receipts other than income + Carry-over from the previous month
Disbursements = Living expenditures + Non-living expenditures + Disbursements other than expenditures + Carry-over to the next month
where,
Receipts = Disbursements
Transferred income is what gifts and remittance are regrouped. Transferred expenditure is what money gifts and remittance are regrouped.
Receipts and disbursements are classified according to whether they are made in cash or in kind. In the statistical tables, the balance in cash is classified according to the details, but the balance in kind is tabulated only for the total amount.
About "in kind", gifts from the outside are classified "income in kind (gifts)" and "expenditure in kind (gifts)" as they occur simultaneous.
In the survey from 1959 to 1984, "income and expenditure in kind" included "allowance in kind", "home products" and "commercial products" besides "gifts".
In 1969, 1974 survey, "income in kind" and "expenditure in kind" included "imputed rent for owned houses", but they do not include it after 1979 survey.
"Installment purchases" and "credit purchases" are tabulated in the following way.
Suppose a purchase is made of a TV set priced at 80,000 yen which is to be paid in installments of 8,000 yen a month for 10 months. When the TV set is received with the first payment of 8,000 yen in a certain month, recording for the month is done by entering its price (80,000 yen) in the item "installment, credit purchases" in "receipts other than income" and also the same amount in the item "recreational durables" in "living expenditure". At the same time, the first payment of 8,000 yen is recorded in the item "installment and credit purchase payments" in "disbursements other than expenditure" for the respective month. Credit purchases are processed in a similar way.
Living expenditure is classified according to use as well as by commodities. In use classification, expenditures on commodities are classified according to purpose of their purchase or uses. In commodity classification, they are classified according to the kind of commodities purchased irrespective of their use. For example, cakes bought for gifts are classified, in use classification, into "social expenses" in "other living expenditure", but in the commodity classification, they are classified in "cakes and candies" in "food".
In this survey, the use classification differs from the commodity classification only with regard to "social expenses". In all cases, however, the total living expenditures according to the use classification and commodity classification are identical.
"Ten major expenditure groups" refers to the classification of living expenditures, dividing into ten categories by purpose on usage, those are food, housing, fuel, light and water charges, furniture and household utensils, clothes and footwear, medical care, transportation and communication, education, reading and recreation and other living expenditures.
Not only "education" but also expenditures needed directly or indirectly for education such as school lunch, school uniforms, student's season tickets, etc. are regrouped.
This group is regrouped in order to clarify the structural changes in expenditures relating to leisure.The following expenses are classified into this group in addition to "reading and recreation" : railway fares, bus fares, airplane-fares, etc.
Telephone charges, mobile telephone charges, NHK TV licence fees, CATV licence fees, other TV licence fees and Internet connection charges are regrouped.
Current living expenditure conceptually corresponds to daily expenditures excluding the items of expensive and less-frequently purchase (for example the purchase of automobiles or electrical appliances). The purpose of set for this expenditure group is to obtain stable data on regions with small sample size or groups of specific households.
In this classification, expenditures are divided into "Goods" and "Services". Furthermore, as for goods, they are classified according to their durability. The following expenses are excluded from this classification ; pocket money, money gifts, other social expenses and remittance.
The term "imputed rent of privately owned houses" refers to the rent for self-owned housing that would accrue if receipts and payments of rents were actually taking place. It is obtained by assuming that the same services are generated and consumed as in the case of a rental house or room and evaluating this amount in terms of the general market price.
Total amount of savings is the sum of deposits to Japan Post Bank, Management Organization for Postal Savings and Postal Life Insurance (Former Japan Post), banks and other financial institutions; premiums for life insurance and damage insurance; securities including stocks and shares, bonds, trusts, etc.; deposits at non-financial institutions such as companies.
As for savings, in the case of life insurance and damage insurance, the amount of savings denotes the accumulated total of the premiums paid since the insurance became effective, while in the case of stocks and shares, it is a value of market price. In the case of bonds, loan trust and money in trust, it is a face value. Damage insurance was included in the savings from the 1989 survey, and gold investment account and gold saving account from the 1994 survey.
Total amount of liabilities is the sum of the money borrowed not only from financial institutions such as Japan Post Bank, Management Organization for Postal Savings and Postal Life Insurance, banks, life insurance companies, Japan Housing Finance Agency , etc., but also from the companies persons work for, employment's mutual associations, relatives and acquaintances, etc.
| Included in savings and liabilities | Excluded from savings and liabilities | ||||||||||
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| Items | Details and remarks | |||||
| Savings | Demand deposits (Fluid-type) | Japan Post Bank |
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| Banks etc. |
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| Time deposits (Fixed-type) | Japan Post Bank |
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| Banks etc. |
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| Life insurance, etc. | Life insurance |
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| Damage insurance |
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| Postal insurance |
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| Stocks and shares, unit and open-end trust |
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| Bonds, open-end bond trust |
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| Loan trust and money in trust |
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| The others (deposits at company, etc.) |
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| Liabilities | Liabilities for purchase of houses and land |
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| Liabilities other than purchase of houses and/or land |
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| Monthly or yearly installments |
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| Durable goods included | Durable goods not included | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Items | Comments | ||||||
| System kitchen |
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| Water heaters (excluding instantaneous gas water heaters) |
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| Make-up and washing stand (shampoo dresser) |
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| Toilet stool covers with warm water cleaners |
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| Refrigerators |
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| Washing machines(Washer-dryer, drum-type) |
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| Induction cooking heater |
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| Video cameras (including digital models) |
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| Cameras (including digital camera) |
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| TV sets (Plasma, LCD, Organic EL) |
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| Video recorders |
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| Personal computers |
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| Unit furniture (priced 200 thousand yen or more) |
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| Beds and sofabeds (excluding built-in types) |
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| Carpets (priced 50 thousand yen or more) |
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| Rice cookers ("Enseki-gama" or those with IH function) |
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| Air-cleaning devices |
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| Solar water heaters |
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| Stereo sets or CD/MD radio cassette recorders |
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| Facsimile machines (with a copy function) |
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Purchase Region has been surveyed based on purchase region indicated in the housekeeping account books for various items purchased by the households in a period of one month in November 2009. Note that this survey does not include expenses on savings, insurance premium payments, securities purchases, payments by installment & credit, purchase by mail-order selling.
The type of places for purchasing has been surveyed based on the types of retailers indicated in the housekeeping account books for various items purchased by the households in a period of one month in November 2009. Note that this survey does not include expenses on such services as eating out and rent and utilities such as electricity, gas and tap water. The types of places for purchasing are classified as follows:
| Type of Places for Purchasing | Classification criteria |
| Retail store | Ordinary retails stores (including family-operated stores), excluding supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, cooperative stores and discount stores / mass sales speciality stores. |
| Supermarket | Retailers that have a store floor area of 100 square meters or more selling various items centering on foods and household miscellaneous items with a self-service style in the store area that exceeds 50% of the total area. |
| Convenience store | Small-sized retailers that are open 24 hours a day or for longer hours selling foods and various articles of daily use including household miscellaneous items and magazines, with a self-service style in the store area that exceeds 50% of the total area. |
| Department store | Stores with 50 or more regular employees, which sell various kinds of commodities. |
| Cooperative store | Stores managed by a group of citizens for their own benefit. Also included here are stores managed by companies or government agencies for the benefit of their employees. |
| Discount store, mass sales speciality stores | Stores that sell commodities with discount prices. Included are mass selling stores which deal with electric appliances, men's clothes, etc., drugstores that mainly sell medicines and cosmetics and retailers that sell various commodities at a uniform price. |
| Mail-order selling (Internet) | Retailers that receive orders on the Internet and deliver the goods to the customer. |
| Mail-order selling (others) | Commodities are advertised in newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, catalogues, internet and so forth, and sent to consumers who order them by mail, telephone, internet, etc. |
| Others | Stores other than those mentioned above: for instance, wholesale stores, stands in stations or theaters, street stalls, peddles, etc. Vending machines are included here. |
Household assets that are included in evaluation are: Financial assets (current amount of savings - current amount of liabilities), house & residential land and major durable goods. Refer to the "Evaluation method of household real assets" for the method of converting real assets to the value of financial assets.
Refer to the "Amount of Savings and Liabilities"
(i)House
| a. | Households having their own houses | : | Owned houses for the households (the present residence and other than the present residence) |
| b. | Households renting houses and rooms | : | Owned houses for the households other than the present residence |
(ii)Residential land
| a. | Households having their own houses | : | Owned residential land for the households (the present residence (including rented land) and other than the present residence) |
| b. | House holds renting houses and rooms | : | Owned residential land for the housholds other than the present residence |
Note: Residential land means the residential land recorded in the register and owned land to construct houses.
(iii)Durable goods
Refer to the "Coverage and Details of Major Durable Goods" In principle, the goods whose purchases price is 10,000 yen and over and durable year is 5 years and longer.
