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National Income and Expenditure Survey for one-person households?Definitions of Terms
Table of Contents
2 Number of Tabulated Households, Specific Households and Households with Aged Persons
3 Groups by Income, Savings, etc.
4 Characteristics and Classification of Dwellings
5 Classification of Receipts and Disbursements, and Tabulated Items
6 Classification of Living Expenditure
7 Imputed Rents of Owner-occupied House
1 Terms Concerning Households
1-1 Definition of Households
This survey covers one-person households only.
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.
1-2 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.
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.
1-3 Occupation of Household Heads
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.
1-4 Family Composition
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.
2 Number of Tabulated Households, Specific Households and Households with Aged Persons
Number of tabulated households, distribution of households (based on the adjusted sampling rate) and 1/10000 ratio
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 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.
3 Groups by Income, Savings, etc.
3-1 Income Groups
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 two months from October to November of the same year.
3-2 Income Decile Groups, Income Quintile Groups and Quartiles (median)
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".
3-3 Groups According to the Total Amount of Savings and Liability
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".
4 Characteristics and Classification of Dwellings
Type of Tenure of Dwellings
"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".
5 Classification of Receipts and Disbursements, and Tabulated Items
5-1 Classification of Receipts and Disbursements
"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
5-2 Transferred Income and Transferred Expenditures
Transferred income is what gifts and remittance are regrouped. Transferred expenditure is what money gifts and remittance are regrouped.
5-3 In Cash and in Kind
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.
5-4 Installment Purchases and Credit Purchases
"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.
6 Classification of Living Expenditure
6-1 Classification by Use and by Commodities
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.
6-2 Classification of Expenditure Groups
"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.
6-3 Expenses for Reading and Recreation
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.
6-4 Expenses for Information and Communication
Telephone charges, mobile telephone charges, NHK TV licence fees, CATV licence fees, other TV licence fees and Internet connection charges are regrouped.
6-5 Current living expenditure
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.
6-6 Classification by Goods and Services
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.
7 Imputed Rents of Owner-occupied House
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.
8 Amount of Savings and Liabilities
8-1 Coverage and Details of Savings and Liabilities Covered by the Survey
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.
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 |
|---|---|
| - Those kept by household head and household members - Those used for individual business purpose. |
- Those kept by persons sharing living expenses and live-in employees - Cash stored at home - Money lent to acquaintances, etc. |
8-2 Details and Remarks of Savings and Liabilities
| Items | Details and remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Saving | Demand deposits (Fluid-type) |
Japan Post Bank | - Savings to be deposited or drawn easily |
| Banks etc. | - Savings to be deposited or drawn easily without restrictions on terms - Included are ordinary deposits, current deposits, deposits at notice, deposits for tax payments, etc. |
||
| Time deposits (Fixed-type) | Japan Post Bank | - Deposits for a period of one month or more, including fixed amount deposits, fixed period deposits, installment savings, installment savings for education, installment savings for construction or purchase of house | |
| Banks etc. | - Deposits for a period of one month or more, including fixed period deposits, installment and fixed period deposits, etc. | ||
| Life insurance, etc. | Life insurance | - Total premiums paid for endowment insurance, child insurance, annuity insurance, etc. managed by life insurance companies and premiums paid for child mutual aid, endowment mutual aid, etc. managed by agricultural cooperatives - Life insurance without maturity payment is excluded. |
|
| Damage insurance | - Total premiums paid for long term and comprehensive insurances including fire insurance, accident insurance, etc. with maturity repayment - Damage insurance without maturity payment is excluded. |
||
| Postal insurance | - Total premiums paid for endowment insurance, whole life insurance, education endowment insurance which are handled by Management Organization for Postal Savings and Postal Life Insurance | ||
| Stocks and shares, unit and open-end trust | - Stocks and investment trust at market prices as of the end of November 2009 | ||
| Bonds, open-end bond trust | - Government bonds, local government bonds, public corporation bonds, financial bonds, industrial bonds, etc. School bonds, expropriated agricultural land owner treasury bonds are excluded. | ||
| Loan trust and money in trust | - Loan trust and money trust which are trusted to trust banks | ||
| The others (deposits at company, etc.) |
- Refers to gold investment of fixed interest which is dealt in banks and stock companies and savings with financial institutions other than the aforementioned varieties - Deposits at companies, employment's mutual associations, friendly societies, etc. and other non-financial institution savings and deposits |
||
| Liabilities | Liabilities for purchase of houses and land | - Liabilities for purchase, build or extension and rebuild of houses, and purchase of land as well as outstanding balance of purchase of houses and land by installment payment | |
| Liabilities other than purchase of houses and/or land | - Loans for daily life, individual proprietors' funds for opening or operating their business, etc. | ||
| Monthly or yearly installments | - Outstanding balance of monthly or yearly installment | ||
9 Major Durable Goods
9-1 Coverage of durable goods
| Durable goods included | Durable goods not included |
|---|---|
| - Those owned and used for family purpose - Those kept in villa or similar places - Those lent to or kept by persons other than household members - Those purchased or received at second hand - Those homemade (homemade stereos, furniture, etc.) - Those having completed a contract of purchase but not yet received |
- Those for business use |
9-2 Durable Goods in Need of Some Comments Items Comments
| Items | Comments |
|---|---|
| System kitchen | - A type of kitchen set that can be freely assembled to fit the size of the room and the way in which it is used - Sets that include three or more components, including a sink, gas range (or induction heating unit), and counter/cabinet |
| Water heaters (excluding instantaneous gas water heaters) |
- Products with a large water-heating capacity that are capable of constant storage of a certain amount of heat in the tank, and go on and off when the temperature reaches a certain level - Not including energy-saving and highly-efficient products (EcoCute, Condensing boiler, ECOWILL, etc.) |
| Make-up and washing stand (shampoo dresser) |
- Those attaching wash stand, mirror, lamp, mirror box, etc. and usable for hair washing |
| Toilet stool covers with warm water cleaners |
- Toilet stool cover with water cleaners and keeping warm - Dryers and smell eliminators are attached in some cases |
| Refrigerators | - Products consisting of a refrigeration compartment and freezer compartment - Not including those consisting of only one or the other |
| Washing machines (Washer-dryer, drum-type) |
- Units with dryer functions and a drum style washing machine - Units without dryer functions are included in washing machines (Other). |
| Induction cooking heater | - The electric stove which heats the pot by action of magnetic field lines from the bottom of the pan - Both types (built-in, composite) are included. |
| Video cameras (including digital models) |
- Video cameras of all types (8 millimeter, VHS, S-VHS, digital, etc.) - Digital still cameras capable of making short recordings of moving images are to be counted as cameras. |
| Cameras (including digital camera) |
- Single-lens reflex, compact, APS, digital still, etc. - Not including disposable lens-and-film cameras - Camera-equipped cellular phones are included with cellular phones. |
| TV sets (Plasma, LCD, Organic EL) |
- TV sets that employ plasma, liquid crystal displays or Organic EL, not the old-style Braun tube screens - TV sets that employ Braun tube screens are included with TV sets (Braun tube). |
| Video recorders | - Video recorders with recording functio - All types of recording method are included. - Personal computers that have recording functions are included with personal computers. |
| Personal computers | - Not including palm-top models, PDA and smart phones |
| Unit furniture (priced 200 thousand yen or more) |
- Unit furniture means the furniture with characteristics of both movable and built-in types, and size of bed, desk, shelve, etc. are unified but these are easily combined depending on use and size of a room. |
| Beds and sofabeds (excluding built-in types) |
- A two-stories bed is counted as one bed. - Not including baby beds |
| Carpets (priced 50 thousand yen or more) |
- Carpets purchased for at least 50,000 yen, whether for laying on the floor or for hanging on the wall |
| Rice cookers ("Enseki-gama" or those with IH function) |
- "Enseki-gama" cooks rice by infra-redray - IH type cooks rice by heating inner oven through magnetic ray |
| Air-cleaning devices | - Devices that remove pollen and dust from the air - Devices that have deodorization and humidifying function are included. - Not including room air conditioners that have air-cleaning function |
| Solar water heaters | - Products heating water with solar heat - Not including photovoltaic power generation systems |
Stereo sets or CD/MD radio cassette recorders |
- Those with record player, CD player, amplifier and speaker, and playable in stereo phonograph - Not including individual equipments such as an amplifier, car stereos and portable music players - Combination radio cassette recorders equipped for playing CDs; including those equipped for playing MDs instead of tapes |
Facsimile machines (with a copy function) |
- Machines with a facsimile transmission and reception function - Personal computers with facsimile functions are included with personal computers. |
10 Purchase Region
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.
11 Types of Places for Purchasing
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. |
12 Household Assets
12-1 Household Assets Included in Evaluation
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.
12-2 Financial Assets
Refer to the "Amount of Savings and Liabilities"
12-3 Real Assets
(1) Houses
| 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 |
(2) 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. Households renting houses and rooms | Owned residential land for the households other than the present residence |
(Note) Residential land means the residential land recorded in the register and owned land to construct houses.
(3) 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.
