Measuring National Well-Being－Proposed Well-being Indicators－

5th December, 2011
The Commission on Measuring Well-being, Japan

Contents
1.

Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
(1)
(2)
(3)

The background and significance of proposed well-being indicators ...................... 2
Relation to the Great East Japan Earthquake ........................................................... 4
The proposed well-being indicators as a starting point ............................................ 6

2. The basic ideas behind the proposed well-being indicators .......................... 7(1)(2)

Three main domains ................................................................................................. 7
Life-stage differences ............................................................................................... 9(3) Possibility of international comparisons ................................................................ 10(4) The identification of the high-risk population ........................................................ 10(5) Comparisons with other indicators ............................................................................. 11

3. Lists of the proposed well-being indicators ................................................ 13(1) Subjective well-being ............................................................................................. 13(2) Socio-economic condition ...................................................................................... 18(3) Health ..................................................................................................................... 31(4) Relatedness ............................................................................................................. 38(5) Sustainability .............................................................................................................. 44

4. Conclusion .............................................................................................. 46
References........................................................................................................ 48
Annotation: Technical Information on Survey......................................................................... 53
1. The ESRI Survey of Level of Happiness of Young People (Preliminary survey of young
people)...................................................................................................................................... 53
2. The National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences Fiscal Year 2008, 2009, 2010.................. 53
Appendix1. The Measurements of Well-being - Overseas Effort-........................................... 54
Appendix2. Well-being Survey in Overseas ............................................................................ 56
Appendix 3. Proposed Well-being Indicators .......................................................................... 57
Appendix 4. Details of Indicators ............................................................................................ 58

Acronyms
ADL

Activity of Daily Living

BDI

Beck Depression Inventory

CES-D

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale

CSC

Clinical Significance Criterion

ESRI

The Economic and Social Research Institute

ESS

The European Social Survey

EQLS

The European Quality of Life Survey

EU-SILCThe EU-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions

FaHCSIAThe Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

GNH

Gross National Happiness

HDI

Human Development Index

HHS

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

IADL

Instrumental Activity of Daily Living

JSTAR

Japanese Study of Aging and Retirement

LRI
MDGs
MIC

The Life Reform Index
Millenium Development Goals
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Japan)

NCEA

The National Center on Elderly Abuse

NSLP

The National Survey of Lifestyle Preference

MSTI

The Main Science and Technology Indicators (OECD)

NEET

Not in Employment, Education or Training

NIBUD

Nationaal Instituut voor Budgetvoorlichting (Netherlands National Institute for Family Finance)

NLSY-CSNSIOECD

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement (the U.S.)
The New Social Indicators
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PLI

The People‟s Life Indicators

PISA

The Program for International Student Assessment

RIETI

The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry

SI
SDS

The Social Indicators
The Zung Self-Rating Depression ScaleSHARE

The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

SHRM

The Society for Human Resource Management

UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme

UNEP

The United Nations Environment Programme

WHO

The World Health OrganizationWWF

The World Wildlife FundMembers of the Commission on Well-being Studies

Yukiko UCHIDA
Associate Professor, KOKORO Research Center, Kyoto University
Fumio OHTAKE
Professor, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
Kohei KOMAMURA
Professor, Faculty of Economics, Keio University
Yoshinori HIROI
Professor, Faculty of Law and Economics, Chiba University
Yoshihiro MAKINO
Professor, Department of Management, Shizuoka Sangyo University
Michiko MIYAMOTO
Professor, The Open University of Japan
Naoto YAMAUCHI (chair)
Professor, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University
Masahiro YAMADA
Faculty of Letters, Chuo University

Meeting Schedule
1 st Meeting: 22th December, 2010
2 nd Meeting: 16th February, 2011
3 rd Meeting: 18th May, 2011
4 th Meeting: 29th August, 20111. Introduction

Introduction to non-Japanese readersThis report was released to the public on 5th December 2011, after a year of intensive researchand discussions by a study group that consisted of leading researchers of Happiness Studies inJapan. This research was conducted to address a new government initiative to create a better
society that provides with the people not only economic wealth, but also overall well-being.
During our works, Japan experienced the greatest natural disaster in its history which has
affected thousands of people‟s lives, and even influenced many people‟s perception towards
their life and on the concept of happiness. This report proposes well-being indicators for Japanas a starting point to initiate wider discussions about our own well-being.
Firstly, it will address the background and the significance of the proposed well-being
indicators. Section 2 will discuss the basic ideas and the framework of the well-being indicators.
The framework shows three domains of our life that considered to be the greatest contributors
towards our own well-being; socio-economic situation, health and relatedness; however, theindividual subjective well-being plays central role for the overall assessment of well-being.
Section 3 will present actual indicators of well-being. These indicators were selected based on
a careful review of previous studies conducted both in Japan and other countries, as well as apreliminary survey carried out for this study.1
Throughout this report, we make a clear distinction between the term “happiness” and“well-being”. The term “happiness” will be used when describing a state of contented
pleasantness which is categorized as an emotion in response to events that occur on a daily
basis, while “well-being” will be used to capture how well people are doing in all aspects of
their life, or in other words, how happy they are in the overall evaluation of their life.

1

This preliminary survey was conducted in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) between
2010 and 2011. For technical information, see Annotation 1.

1(1) The background and significance of proposed well-being indicators
Parents hope their children will have a happy life when the child is born. Fundamentally, thepurpose of government is to create a society, so its citizens can live their lives happily. It has
been believed that real income per capita does increase the happiness of people. Nevertheless,in the 1970s, several empirical analyses discovered that significant economic growth did notactually correspond to an equivalent increase in people‟s happiness, and this “paradox ofhappiness” has led to the development of Happiness Studies in the field of economics,sociology, and psychology. Happiness Studies has been demonstrating that people‟s well-being
is primarily a subjective phenomenon, which cannot be understood when only objective
indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, income, literacy rate, or
longevity are concerned. Rather, it is important to observe a subjective evaluation ofwell-being, which reflects an individual‟s own appraisal towards their life.
In reality, Japan also suffers from the “paradox of happiness”, particularly after the Japanesepost-war economic miracle (Figure 1), and it is reported that Japanese people are less happy incomparison to other developed countries. For instance, the number of 15 year old Japanese
students who feel “out of place and uncomfortable at school” is the largest among developed
countries (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2007). Additionally, suicide is the mostcommon cause of death among males in their 20s to early 40s, and among females in their lateteens to early 30s (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 2010). Our preliminary survey also
discovered that one in three people in their 20s and 30s have reported that they have seriously
considered committing suicide in their past. A significant number of people are believed tosuffer from an excessive amount of stress and depression, and they find it difficult to have hopefor their future. Furthermore, the elderly are reported to suffer most from unhappiness in Japandespite the international trend that the aged population has a higher level of happiness (Cabinet
Office, 2009).

2

(1990=100)

130
120
110
100
90
80
70

60
1978

1981

1984

1987

1990

Happiness

1993

1996

1999

Life Satisfaction

2002

2005

2008

2010

2011

GDP per capita

Figure 1. Trends of well-being in Japan(average score of happiness, average score of life satisfaction, GDP per capita)(Note 1). The data of “happiness” and “life satisfaction” are extracted from the National Survey ofLifestyle Preference (NSLP) from fiscal year 1978 to 2011. (1990=100)(Note2) GDP per capita is calculated by using the System of National Accounts, and the GDP
Quarterly Report, and the Population Forecast. (1990=100)

Therefore, the questions arise “Does economic growth mean happiness?”, and “Is GDP
synonymous to happiness?” We now need the indicators of well-being to provide us with afuller information of how Japan is doing and where we are heading to in real terms. Then we
have to redefine the objective of the nation to create a healthy society. These well-being
indicators are constituted of various factors including subjective individual happiness that
contribute to overall well-being, and these are a tool to analyze regional differences andchanges over time.2 Creating these indicators is significant because it will shed light on“happiness” and the individuals‟ “feeling” in policy discussion. More precisely, indicators ofwell-being will enable us to:
1. Investigate factors affecting individuals‟ well-being, and to identify societal advantages
and disadvantages which may affect the level of well-being. As well as to observe what
aspects of society are improving and what aspects of society are deteriorating.
2 With increases number of research, politicians have begun to focus on well-being of the nation. For instance, in Asia,
Bhutan set the aim to higher the Gross National Happiness (GNH), and Thailand is implementing the Green and HappinessIndex. In Europe, the Government of France established the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance andSocial Progress (the Stiglitz Commission), chaired by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz with chair adviser, anotherNobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, and coordinator Jean-Paul Fitoussi. The French government then has published its
proposal in 2009. In the U.K., led by the prime minister, they are currently in the process of establishing well-being
indicators.

3

2. Provide the opportunity for people to obtain a deeper understanding of where society isheading for a wider discussion, and to give individuals some clues on what are thenecessary actions needed to facilitate not only an individuals‟ well-being but also national
well-being.
Also, by comparing Japan with other countries, we can re-evaluate aspects of our own society
which are conventional to us, so that we do not consider these things as advantageous ordisadvantageous to our society. For example, Japanese people generally remain calm andmoralistic at a time of crisis, and cities are spotless because people are very unlikely to litter.
These are evaluated as advantages to Japanese society which enhance well-being of people.
Additionally, the indicators will help policy makers to evaluate existing policy and prioritize or
improve them. As well as to suggest public policy to be initiated in the future based on theevidence shown by the indicators.3(2) Relation to the Great East Japan Earthquake
Almost eight months have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the Northern Japan.
Despite an unchanged spectacular view of the coast line, the destroyed villages are still left
untouched showing how devastating the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant accident
was. Deserted villages and uninhabited houses remain abandoned with little hope of people toreturn. The sorrow of losing family members, friends, houses, and jobs all at once has been
unbearable.
The Great East Japan Earthquake not only caused physical and psychological damage to
Northern Japan, but also affected the nation as a whole by causing great anxiety among the
population. Many people have claimed that their perspective on life and their concept ofhappiness have changed. This is probably because people have realized in the space of amoment their entire life could be destroyed and this could occur anytime, anywhere(Figure2).

3 In Bhutan, the government stated that indicators determine policies, hence it is necessary to establish well-being
indicators.

4

Significantly
Changed 12.8%
Do not know
20.8%

Not Changed 7.9%

Slightly Changed
13.5%

Somewhat
Changed 45.0%

Figure2 Changes in the perspective of their life and the concept of happiness(Note1) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey of Level of Happiness of Young People).

This catastrophe has reminded people how important it is to have a “bond between people(kizuna)”, and has enhanced their sense of unity. For example, many people have eagerly
participated voluntarily to help in the recovery and reconstruction of the affected area. Also, alarge amount of money was donated from people all across Japan. This demonstrated thestrong solidarity of the Japanese people and their potential to come together in a time of crisis.
On the other hand, this disaster raised the question of “how strong is Japanese solidarity inordinary times”. In reality, the number of people who are considered socially excluded has
been increasing in recent years, and their situation remains unchanged by the process.
As mentioned earlier, the earthquake happened during our research while we are constructing
the well-being indicators. The disaster is by no means welcome, yet with this undesired
catastrophe, we were given another opportunity to re-evaluate what matters to us the most in
our life. It made us realize the existence of a considerable number of people who have a low
level of well-being in ordinary times. The disaster also set an even clearer mission to create
the country with high level of well-being, which also many researchers promised tothemselves when the leading professor of happiness studies, Philip Brickman, took his own
life in 1982. We genuinely hope that the proposed indicators of well-being, and the idea ofwell-being will be utilized to formulate or evaluate public policy to create a progressive society
for the victims of the catastrophe as well as ones who suffer from ill-being with no relation to
the earthquake.
5(3) The proposed well-being indicators as a starting point
The proposed well-being indicators in this report are produced taking previous studies into
consideration. As it will be noted later, the evaluation of well-being is based on 3 domains;socio-economic conditions, health and relatedness, and each domain contain both subjective
and objective indicators. 4 Those subjective and objective indicators are measuring factors
affecting people‟s well-being. Nevertheless, it is necessary to examine whether those factors
are socially recommendable. For example, people who live in a deprived condition will
gradually accept their positions in society, and start to undermine his or her own ideal (Sen,
1992). This may bring about happiness to the ones who have accepted their position, yet it does
not necessarily mean that condition does not need to be improved, nor is equal to well-being.
Furthermore, the factors which are currently influencing our sense of happiness may not be thesame in the future. Therefore, it is crucial, not to establish a set of concrete indictors, but toconstantly address and review the indicators from different perspectives to capture well-being
as precisely as possible.
The aim of this report is not to propose a perfect set of indicators to measure well-being, but it
is to generate a wider discussion on what the ideal society is. Hence, this is the starting point,and continuous international and national discussions are required to develop even betterwell-being indicators. In general, Japanese people hold a negative image of Japanese society.
They think things like “people tend to be irresponsible”, “people are too busy to relax”, or“some people are self-centered”.5 This negative feeling has existed for a while and it is notjust a recent trend. Now is the time that we have to move forward from this negativity.
Through the discussion of well-being, we can address future perspectives, the philosophy ofhappiness, and the power of the nation. Those discussions will show us the road to walk awayfrom the state of ill-being which this society by and large suffers from. Furthermore, a deeper
discussion of well-being focusing on individuals, family members, and society as a wholewill probably make people to become more altruistic, and create a society which people canfeel more comfortable to live in.

4 Studies on happiness and well-being in Japan is reported by Ohtake, Shiroi, and Tsutsui (2010) etc.
5 Those results are from “A Poll on People's Social Awareness” conducted by the Cabinet Office every year (Cabinet Office2011).

6

2. The basic ideas behind the proposed well-being indicators
This section will present the framework for measuring well-being. There are six importantcharacteristics of this framework.
1. This framework tries to explain how every aspect of our life can contribute towards“well-being”. There is a set of indicators that will be evaluated separately, rather thanbeing combined into one collective score. This keeps its multidimensionality and it meansthat we are able to see what aspect of society needs to be focused on or improved upon
more to further promote well-being.
2. This framework includes both subjective and objective indicators.
3. We consider well-being as a subjective phenomenon, hence, in this framework, subjective
well-being plays are central role in the overall assessment of well-being.
4. It groups various aspects of life into three domains: socio-economic situation, health andrelatedness.
5. Different stages of life are taken into account. Hence some indicators are aimed atparticular age groups.
6. Sustainability is included as a more conceptual domain. While existing research does notconclude that sustainability affects the well-being of current generation, sustainability may
influence the well-being of future generation.
This section firstly will explain the basic idea of the three domains. Secondly, it will address
issues of the changes in the perception of happiness through the course of one‟s life. Thirdly, it
will look into the possibility of an international comparison. Fourthly, it will discuss the use of
indicators to identify which groups in the population are at high risk of falling into ill-being.
Finally, it will compare these proposed well-being indicators with previous indicators.

(1) Three main domains
Regardless which institution tries to propose well-being indicators, whether it is a national
government, international organizations, or private research institutions, the first course ofaction is to discuss what constitute to national well-being. It is generally agreed with that
subjective well-being is the central indicator for most frameworks, but there are a wide range
of opinions of what to include as indicators to contribute to subjective well-being that reflect
the multi-dimensionality and subjectivity of the issue. To decide what domains to include inthese proposed well-being indicators, the National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences (NSLP)
was utilized as a reference. The survey comprises of 12 factors that influence well-being:
health, family, household budget, mental relaxation, friends, employment, free time,
motivation of life, leisure, job satisfaction, working environment, community environment
7

and others. The survey conducted in the fiscal year 2009 and 2010 revealed that family, health,household budget, and mental relaxation were factors that have a strong influence on people‟swell-being. (Figure3)(Factors)
OthersCommunity environment
Working environment
Job Satisfaction
LeisureMotivation of life
Free Time
Employment
Friends
Mental Relaxation
Household Budget
FamilyHealth

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00
2010

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00 (%)

2009

Figure 3 Factors that are considered as important to determine happiness(Percentage of people who chose each factor as important in relation to well-being)(Note) Results are from the NSLP fiscal year 2009 and 2010, and some choices were revised and changed in thefiscal year 2010.

Based on the results of the NSLP and other international discussions, this report suggests
three domains as being the most important. These domains include above mentioned 12
factors as well as other various important factors in order to reach every aspect of people‟s lifethat affects well-being. These three domains are: socio-economic conditions, health andrelatedness. Each domain contains several indicators, which will be explained in the next
section in detail.
It has to be noted that sustainability is not included as main domains, but it is included as aconceptual domain. While existing research does not conclude that sustainability affects thewell-being of current generation, sustainability may influence the well-being of future
generation.

8

Taking above discussion into account, Figure 4 presents the framework of these well-being
indicators Japan.

Well-being
Subjective well-being
Socio-economic
condition•Basic needs•Housing•Parenting/Education•Employment•Social system

HealthRelatedness•Physical health•Psychological health•Lifestyle•Family ties
•Bonding with
community•Closeness to naturesustainability

Figure 4: A framework for measuring well-being(2) Life-stage differences
The level of influence of each factor differs among the population according to what stage theyof their life they are in. Therefore, it is important to give some consideration to this issue whenestablishing the framework.
In the case of Japan, for instance, males in their late teens and early 20s list “friends” as themost important factor, and “mental relaxation” as the third most important factor that affecting
their level of well-being. On the other hand, “household budget” or “family” is listed on the topof the list for males in their late 20s to early 50s, but “health” is considered the most for males
older than 55. As well as teenage boys, teenage girls also listed “friends” as the most importantfactor, and “mental relaxation” as the third most important factor. However, as age goes up,
different factors became more influential for female. “Family” is listed on the top of the list for
females in their early 20s to late 30s. “Health” is considered as the most influential for thefemales older than 40. No female in any group listed “household budget” on the top of their list
while males did so.

9(Age)
Sex

Top 5

1

15-19

Friends

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

Friends

Household
BudgetFamilyHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetHousehold
Budget

HealthFamilyHousehold
BudgetFamilyHealthHealthHealthHousehold
Budget

HealthMentalRelaxation

FamilyFamilyFamilyMentalRelaxation

Health2Free Time3

Mental Motivation
Relaxationof life Employment

Male

4

5

FamilyMentalMentalRelaxation Relaxation

Motivation Householdof life
Budget1

Friends2

Family3

MentalRelaxation

FemaleFamilyFamilyHealthFamilyMentalHousehold
Relaxation
Budget

65-69

70-74

75-79

HealthHealthHealthHealthFamilyHousehold
BudgetFamilyFamilyFamilyHousehold
BudgetFamilyHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetMentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalEmployment Employment Employment Relaxation Employment Employment Employment Free TimeFree TimeFree Time

HealthHealthMentalMentalRelaxation Employment Relaxation

FamilyFamilyHealthHealthHealthHealthHealthHealthHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetFamilyFamilyFamilyHousehold
BudgetFamilyFamilyFamilyFamilyHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetFamilyHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetHousehold
BudgetFree Time

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

Friends

Friends

HealthHealthHousehold
BudgetMentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

Free TimeFree Time

Friends

Friends

Employment Employment Employment Employment Employment Free Time

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

MentalRelaxation

4

Free Time

HealthMentalRelaxation

5

HealthHousehold
Budget

HealthFigure5 Top five factors that are considered as important in determining happiness(by gender & by age)
(Note) The data was extracted from the NSLP fiscal year 2010
conducted by the Cabinet OfficeBecause different events happen throughout our life from birth to death including schooling,working, marrying, parenting, and so on, it is totally natural that people‟s perception changes
towards well-being. In our framework, we have divided one‟s life into four stages of life:
childhood and youth, adulthood, late adulthood before aged 80, and late adulthood after aged
80.
(3) Possibility of international comparisons
While the concept of well-being may differ from country to country as it is significantly
influenced by culture and beliefs, it is useful if we are able to make an international
comparison. In practice, there are common factors that are considered to be important acrossall countries. For instance, a wide variety of indicators for well-being have been by
governments overseas, and some have already started the data collection based on these
indicators (see Appendix2). Among them, there are several indicators that are considered to beimportant in Japan as well. Therefore, in constructing the indicators, we have paid attention to
the studies in other countries, and employed indicators considered to be important for Japanesepeople where it is possible. By doing so, these proposed well-being indicators become morecomparable, and it enables us to learn from the comparisons.
(4) The identification of the high-risk population
From each indicator of well-being, it is possible and it is essential to identify the number of10households or individuals who are facing multiple risks such as being socially excluded inpoor socio-economic conditions with ill-health. Understanding the relationship between thehigh-risk population and formal or informal support they are receiving leads us to discover: towhat extent potential risks spread to society, what types of people mainly fall into the categoryof the high-risk group and how other factors such as poverty influence these risks. Thesefindings can better inform public policy decisions by targeting the most at risk population, andcreate a more socially included society.
(5) Comparisons with other indicators
With the growing recognition that GDP and other economic indicators alone cannot portray theactual level of welfare of the people living in a country, the Japanese government has
introduced four indicators: the Social Indicators (SI), the New Social Indicators (NSI), thePeople‟s Life Indicators (PLI), and the Life Reform Index (LRI).6 The intention of producing
those indicators and these well-being indicators share the common purpose of creating a better
society based on The New Growth Strategy, Cabinet Decision, June 18, 2010 (Government ofJapan, 2010). However, there are few important differences.
The characteristics of the previous 4 indicators are:
1. Their frameworks were established with more focus on individual life domains.
2. Indicators were chosen from existing statistics, and no new survey was conducted.
3. Subjective indicators were included in the NSI and the LRI, but the indicators did not aim tomeasure the level of well-being or the satisfaction of their life.
4. Based on the percentage change, all indicators were standardized, and they have produced asingle composite indicator.
In comparison, the current proposed well-being indicators have the following characteristics:
1. The framework has been established by putting a great deal of emphasis on subjective
well-being.
2. All necessary indicators are included to encompass national well-being regardless of their
existence in the survey data.
3. They attempt to identify indicators which may overlap with other indicators.
4. They do not produce a single composite indicator.
Regarding the fourth point above, we considered that constructing a single composite indicator
would prevent us from finding important characteristics in each domain. As stated earlier, oneof the significances of producing well-being indicators is to investigate the factors affecting
individuals‟ well-being, and to identify societal advantages and disadvantages as well as to
6 These discussions were reported in the Quality of Life Council (1974 ).

11observe what aspects of society are improving and what aspects of society are deterioratingover time. Hence, it is preferable not to combine all indicators together to create one single
indicator, but to evaluate each indicator.7

7 The Stiglitz Commission also suggests not to combine all indicators to create one single indicator because of various
reasons such as a single indicator does not allow us to see which fields are deteriorating in society, it requires weighting, itneeds to have additional explanation when there are changes of indicators, and it is not suitable for international comparisonsbecause of different values that exist in each country (Stiglitz, Sen, and Fitoussi, 2009).

12

3. Lists of the proposed well-being indicators
As section 2 explained, these proposed well-being indicators consist of 3 domains:socio-economic condition, health and relatedness, and subjective well-being as the mostimportant indicator because well-being is a subjective phenomenon. Subjective well-being,socio-economic condition, health and relatedness have several indicators, and this section
will present those indicators, available data, and the results of some preliminary analysis for
its validity.

(1) Subjective well-being
As stated earlier, well-being is multidimensional, but as many prior studies show that we
consider subjective well-being to play a central role in measuring well-being. There havebeen various proposed indicators to capture subjective well-being. This report takes all
possible indicators into consideration, and proposes 6 indicators: current level of subjective
happiness, expected level of happiness in the future, ideal level of happiness, relativeness,
affective experience and happiness gap within the household. At the present, an existing
indicator in Japan is the indicator of current level of happiness. This indicator, however,informs us of the general happiness level in Japan, and gives us some clues to add otherindicators.
The current level of subjective happiness is most frequently used in international surveys tomeasure subjective well-being. It is the indicator used to obtain the present level of happiness.
For instance, the respondents are asked to choose the score from 0 points (very unhappy) to
10 points (very happy), or to choose a number between 1 (very happy) and 5 (very unhappy).8
In Japan, the current level of happiness has been measured in the NSLP conducted since 1978
by asking individuals to score their happiness between 0 and 10. As Figure 6 demonstrates,
there is a general trend throughout survey years that the largest portion of the population has
chosen 5 (I am neither happy nor unhappy) followed by 7 and 8.

8 There are other ways of measuring subjective well-being such as asking the satisfaction of overall life, or asking generalsatisfaction of life by using escalated scale. However, they are more related to income and reflect only the life ofthemselves. The happiness level, on the other hand, reflects their health and family relations. For these proposed well-being
indicators, we use the happiness level of people as a subjective measurement because the purpose of the measurement is tounderstand people‟s well-being which includes more than income and individual life.

13

30%

25%

2010
20%

2009
1999

1996
15%

1993
1990
1987
1984

10%

1981
1978
5%

0%
Extremely
Unhappy

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Extremely
Happy

Figure 6 The distribution of happiness scores(Note) The data was extracted from the NSLP (years are all fiscal years)
conducted by the Cabinet Office.

When compared to other countries, two characteristics became apparent. Firstly, the lined
graph of Japan has two distinctive peaks at 5 and around 7 to 8. For example, the lined graphsof Denmark and the U.K. show the highest peak at 8, and it has asymmetric distribution.
Secondly, in comparison to countries with a high average score of well-being such as
Portugal and Bulgaria, Japan has a smaller population scoring below 4 (Figure7).
(%)

40

30
Denmark
U.K.
Germany
20

FrancePortugal
Bulgaria
Japan
10

0
Very
Unhappy

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Very
Happy

Figure7. Distribution of happiness scores in comparison with some European countries(Note) The data was extracted from the NSLP fiscal year 2010
conducted by the Cabinet Office, and European Social Survey for European countries(2008)14

Another important distinctive feature of Japanese people‟s well-being is that as they get older
their happiness level does not increase. According to previous studies conducted in overseas,
there is a general agreement that the relationship between age and well-being follows the U
shaped curve. In other words, as people get older, people become happier. It is hypothesized
this thing happens due to the changes in people‟s way of thinking as they get older. Whenpeople reach middle age, they realize the fact that they have to give up their dream orambition they have been pursuing since their youth because of many other social restrictions.
With the struggle of accepting this reality, middle aged people feel unhappy. Yet, once theyreach old age, people are likely to change their way of thinking, and try to enjoy the rest of
their life (Bruno and Stutzer, 2001). However, the results of Japanese surveys show thatpeople‟s happiness does not increase with age as much as other countries (Figure 8).
0.2

-0.6

0.1
0

-0.8

-0.1
-1

U.S.

-0.2
-1.2

-0.3

-1.4

-0.4

Japan

-1.6

-0.5
15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75
(Age)

Subjective well-being(the U.S.)

Subjective well-being(Japan)-0.4

Figure8 Subjective happiness by age in comparison with the U.S.
(Note) The data was extracted from Cabinet Office (2009)

From these findings, we observe following implications. Firstly, the existing subjective
indicator of current level of happiness should be included, but the phrasing of the question
could be improved. According to Figure 7, it is suggested that the evaluation of well-being byusing the average score is not sufficient. It is important to see the proportion of people who
evaluated their life to be very unhappy in order to observe happiness disparities.9
In addition to the indicator of the current level of happiness, there are three important aspects
that are specific to Japan. Those three are: 1) the gap between the ideal state of happiness andthe real state of happiness, 2) expected level of happiness in the future 3) relative
achievements in comparison with others. The first aspect is crucial considering the societal
context of Japan. Japanese people are said to have a tendency to choose the middle number
when given escalated odd numbers to choose from. The result of current level of happiness

9 When everyone has the same level of happiness, and when some have a very high level of happiness while others have avery low level of happiness, the average score would be the same. Nonetheless, the former is probably better in considering
national well-being.

15

indicator follows this tendency. Therefore, when we are measuring the ideal state of people‟shappiness, people are unlikely to give the numbers at either end of the scale, and we do not
get the actual representation of people‟s feeling. Additionally, the second aspect is essential
for us to measure. As shown above, in Japan, elderly people are the least happy members of
the population unlike other countries.10 The third aspect reflects Japanese culture. It is said
that Asians happiness level increases in relation to others, such as appreciation towards others
and harmony with nature,11 which is very different from the western concept of happiness
which appears to increases with the satisfaction of own ego. This will be a particularly
important indicator in understanding what cultural factors affect Japanese people‟s sense ofhappiness, and to identify cultural differences.
In order to see if those three aspects are actually corresponding to subjective well-being, ourgroup has implemented preliminary research of young people with the collaboration with theESRI. Firstly, we have explored the Japanese-perceived ideal state of mind by carrying out
the survey. From this survey, we found that the majority of Japanese people think the ideal
state of mind is “feeling happiness for 70-80% of their time” or “feeling happiness for 50% of
their time” (Figure 9). However, those who feel very unhappy (scored 0) are more likely to
say their ideal state of mind is “feeling happiness for 100% of their time”. This suggests thatthe low average score of happiness in Japan is not a great problem because theJapanese-perceived ideal state of mind is not being happy all the time.
100%
90%
10

80%

9
8

70%

7
60%

6
5

50%

4
3

40%

2
1

30%

0
20%

10%
0%
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Total

Figure9 The current level of happiness and the ideal state of happiness(Note 1) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) Survey of Level of Happiness of Young People)(Note2) X-axis describes the current level of happiness, and Y-axis represents the ideal level of happiness.

10 Expected level of happiness in the future does affect the current level of happiness. Particularly in a country where there
is a large aged population who feels unhappy, many youth would expect their future to be the same by looking at thoseunhappy elderly people.
11 For the cultural differences in Happiness Studies, see Uchida, Norasakkunkit and Kitayama (2004), Uchida andKitayama (2009),Kan, Karasawa and Kitayama (2009) etc.

16Secondly, we have investigated expected level of future happiness, whether people feel are
the sense of progress towards a state of happiness in the future. There are correlations
between the current level of happiness and the expected level of future happiness. Although
only 12% of young people have shown anxiety that their level of happiness would lower inthe following year, they are the ones who currently feels very unhappy. Forty percent ofpeople who scored less than 2 expected to have lower level of happiness in the future. On theother hand, ones who scored their happiness level as very high (score 10) believed theirhappiness level would increase even more in the future.
100%
90%
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5

80%

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Total

Figure 10 Comparison between the current level of happiness and the expected level ofhappiness in the future.
(Note 1) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey of Level of Happiness of Young People)(Note 2) X-axis describes the current level of happiness, and Y-axis represents the expected level of happinessin the future.

Thirdly, we have carried out a statistical analysis to understand the current level of happinessand relativeness by using this survey. The result shows a high correlation between the two.
Nevertheless, this indicator is very much culturally dependent; hence the relationshipbetween the two could change over time. From this preliminary analysis, we conclude those
three aspects all relates to the current level of subjective well-being, therefore they are valid.
Referring to “relativeness”, this proposed well-being indicator would include the happinessgaps among the family members as family members are the closest actors in society andnormally shares basic background such as material wealth and values. By looking at trends ofhappiness within the family, if everyone has a similar level of happiness and a similar
perception towards one‟s own happiness in the future, or if there are wide gaps between eachmember‟s perceptions, important implication can be obtained. For instance, if each member‟ssubjective happiness and future perception are different within the same family, it isnecessary to investigate reasons causing these gaps and to aid public policy implications.

17

In addition to all the above, the indicator of affective experience will be included into thisdomain. The Gallup World Poll, and Bhutan‟s Gross National Happiness (GNH) employ thisindicator. The affective experience, which are life experiences that force us to feel someemotions, forms general appraisal for our lives. Some even argue that this dominates
subjective overall appraisal of life. Because pleasantness or unpleasantness is very muchcontextually dependent, this indicator will include emotion such as shame or guilt, whichcharacterizes Japanese culture.
Taking above discussions into consideration, the table below summarized 6 proposed
indicators.
targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

There is a need to consider thephrasing of the question. Lifesatisfaction, and escalated indicator ・ESSof satisfaction might be useful tocompliment this indicator.

individual

all agegroup

current level of subjective
happiness

・NSLP (Cabinet Office)individual

all agegroup

ideal level of happiness・Preliminary survey of young people

individual

all agegroup

・Preliminary survey of young people (asking:
There is a question of how to define
expected level of happiness in・Gallup World Poll (asking:expected level of happiness in the next year and the "future(How many years later will
the future
expected life satisfaction in 5 years)
time they will die)be future happiness?)".

individual

all agegroup

relativeness・Preliminary survey of young people (using
Interdependent Happiness Scale）

individual

all agegroupaffective experience・Preliminary survey of young people (samequestionnaire as the Gallup World Poll)

It is better to employ the method of
Bhutan, and include typical・Gallup World Poll
Japanese emotion such as
・Bhutan GNH
embarrassment and guilt.

householdall agegroup

happiness gap within thehouseholdnone

It will be necessary to have data for
・ESS
whole household.

(2) Socio-economic condition
Socio-economic condition is an important domain. This domain comprises of aspects of basic
needs, housing, parenting and education, employment and social system. Each aspect will
have various subjective and objective indicators, and the following text will explain thoseindicators.
1. Basic needs
Lack of fulfillment of basic needs implies no foundation to conduct everyday life. Although“paradox of happiness” shows that an increase in income does not bring about an appreciable
increase in happiness, basic needs fulfillment do matter particularly to ones living in deprived
conditions. Previous research conducted overseas clarified that GDP alone cannot show thereality of unsatisfied basic needs because GDP is a macro statistic, and increase in income
may vary from region to region, industry to industry, and occupation to occupation. In otherwords, we can neither standardize nor measure basic needs fulfillment by one indicator.
Therefore, 14 indicators will be proposed here to encompass basic needs fulfillment. Among18

them, 4 indicators will capture the state of individuals in all age group: poverty rate, material
deprivation rate, relative poverty gap and food safety. Two indicators are directed athouseholds: relative poverty rate and the proportion of households that are unable to pay forrents, mortgages or public utility bills. Unsatisfied basic needs at community level will bemeasured by 2 indicators: consumer fraud and subjective evaluation towards material wealth.
In addition, child poverty rate will be used to analyze the well-being of children. Bankruptcy
rate will be employed to evaluate the well-being of adults. For the aged population, 4
indicators will aid the evaluation: suicide rate, lonely death rate, ratio of people who fearlonely death and anxiety for life expenses in later life.
In the NSLP, in relation to basic needs, people value household budget as one of the mostimportant factors. Nevertheless, the ones who care about household budget over other factors
tend to have a lower level of well-being (Figure11). Statistically, this proves that they have anegative correlation. This is probably because for those who have lived in a deprived
condition, household budget (income/consumption) appears to be more important. But for theones living without money worries, household budget is unlikely to be such an importantfactor. Therefore, material deprivation and poverty rate need to be measured.12Also, the childpoverty rate is important to understand because child poverty often leads to life-long poverty,
and causes a poverty spiral.13
The average score ofhappiness

765Important

Not Important

Figure 11 Relationship between people who value household budget (income andconsumption) and their average score of happiness(Note) The data was extracted from the NSLP fiscal year 2010
conducted by the Cabinet Office

As well as understanding relative poverty, absolute poverty is also necessary to grasp. This isbecause, for instance the relative poverty rate is: 1) a difficult concept to be understoodamong the public, 2) the relative poverty line differs greatly between countries, hence, it
12 There are many research papers point out the relations between happiness and poverty (see Clark, 2007).
13 For instance, Bradshow, Hoelscher and Richardson (2006) shows the relationship between the two.

19

could be inappropriate for international comparisons, 3) in the country where people sustain ahigh average income, the population below the relative poverty line does not necessarily feeldeprived (European Commission, 2011). As an absolute indicator, European countries areusing the material deprivation rate or the number of unemployed people in the household tomeasure poverty. Also, there is a method of measuring absolute poverty by using the Basic
Needs Basket, which focuses on minimum income.14
Moreover, as a modern societal problem in Japan, there is large number of elderly people diesalone. Lonely death means that no one realizes when someone, mainly the aged, passed away,
and the body has been left undiscovered for considerable amount of time. Society withproblem of lonely death can be characterized as an unhappy society.15 Lonely death is caused
mainly due to social exclusion, which might be done deliberately. Some research claims thatapproximately 80 % of those who end their life alone suffer from the state of self-neglectwhen one rejects every relation to society. 16 In this aged society, it is crucial to have an
indicator of social exclusion or old age poverty.
In addition to those considerations, it needs to measure how capable community is to fulfill
the basic needs of people to live there. To measure this, governments in foreign countries
suggest the amount of consumer fraud as well as the amount and the extent of damage as
indicators. It is important to see the extent of damage because the victim could lose trust
towards the market due to the psychological damage (Cabinet Office, 2009), which will affectcommunity as a whole.
Taking into account above considerations, basic needs will be measured by the following
indicators.

14 The discussions on relative poverty and absolute poverty are found in Komaura et.al (2008). In Holland, those studies
have been a main stream in the academic institutions, and Netherlands National Institute for Family Finance (NIBUD:
Nationaal Instituut voor Budgetvoorlichting) has presented NIBUD budget standard. Also the European Commission haspresented the budget standard threshold for of the countries in the E.U. In Japan, Abe (2010) has researched the validity of
the UK Minimum Income Standard .
15 Although there are no research done to investigate the relationship between the anxiety towards lonely death and the lowlevel of happiness, our preliminary analysis has proved that those relationships are statistically significant in case of youth
after the control of sex, income, educational attainment, and marital status.
16 The survey conducted in 2012 by the ESRI also found that 91.4% of the local authority recognizes that the problem ofold age self-neglect is severe.

20

targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

・The National Institute of Population and
Howto set the absolute poverty line. How do weSocial Security Research (Japan) has
consider assets.
been developing the indicator.

・OECD
・EU-SILC・NIBUD・FaHCSIA

Whether Japan should use the same indicator as
Europe. The European Commission suggests
adding 4 more indicators on the current indicator.

・EU-SILC

The rate has not been published.

・EU-SILC

individual

all agegroup

poverty rate (under the minimum
income line)

individual

all agegroup

material deprivation rate (people
・Preliminary survey of young people
who have more than 3 yes out of 9)individual

all agegroup

relative poverty gap

・Comprehensive Survey of Living
Conditions of the People (Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)food safety

・Food Safety Monitoring Survey (128monitors: the relative anxiety towards
safety of food in comparison to othersafety issues such as natural disaster,
environment, crime and traffic accident)
This is the one-shot survey.
(Commission on Food Safety)
・Monitoring Survey on Living Conditionof the People( 1,810 monitors: there are 7questions related to the issue of foodsafety) (Cabinet Office)・Euro barometer 2005, 2010 (comparing
with economic crisis, pollution, crime,
traffic accident, and health)・Comprehensive Survey of Living
Conditions of the People (Ministry of
How to calculate equivalent disposal income overHealth, Labor and Welfare)generation.
・Survey on the Situation of Consumption
(MIC)

・OECD
・EU-SILC

・EU-SILC (asking: how frequent they
could not pay for the rent in the past year/
if they had experience of not being able topay for the public bills/ if they had times
not being able to pay for the loan.)individual

all agegroup

householdall agegroup

relative poverty ratehouseholdall agegroup

proportion of households that are
unable to pay for rents, mortgages
or public utility bills

・Preliminary survey of young people

community/society

all agegroup

consumer fraud (1. the amount ofconsumer fraud, 2. reported casesof illegal activates againstcommercial law, 3. the number ofconsumer affairs consultation)

・White Paper on the Life of the Nation
Fiscal Year 2008 (Cabinet Office)・The number of reported offences related
to commercial activities (National Police
It requires large survey.
Agency)・Annual Report on Consumer Affairs(National Consumer Affairs Center ofJapan)

・the U.K. Office of Fair Trading
・Netherland Consumer Protection Agency

community/society

all agegroup

subjective evaluation towards
material wealth ( the rate ofhouseholds who think having
difficulties in financing)・Preliminary survey of young people

・OECD
・EU-SILC

individual

childrenchild poverty rate

・Comprehensive Survey of Living
Conditions of the People (Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)・OECD
・EU-SILC

individual

adultbankruptcy rate (per million)

・The Supreme Court has statistics on
civil proceedings and administration,
which offers bankruptcy rate.

individual

elderlysuicide rate

・The Cabinet Office publishes theestimated numbers

How do we define public bills.

It cannot differentiate people based on age, sex,
types of households, and household income.

・None, but the Eurostat is considering theindex to understand the situation of debt.
・The Report by NCEA (1998)

The definition is not clear. As a statistics, there is
only the number of people who died from hunger,
illness, suicide and murder, and no one knows who
none
he/she is. Nissei Research Institute estimates thenumber of people who face lonely death amount to
15,000 per year.

individual

elderly

lonely death rate

・The statistics of lonely death over 65
years of age has been published by the
Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office.

individual

elderlyratio of people who fear lonely
death

It is only one-shot survey. It may be needed to ask
・Survey on the Social Life of the Elderly
other age group. (The preliminary survey only
none
Fiscal Year 2009 (Cabinet Office)included young people)

individual

elderlyanxiety for the life expenses in their ・Survey on Social Security Fiscal Yearlater life
2007 (Japan Institute of Life Insurance)

21・SHARE (asking: how often they feel the
There is no official government survey on this issue. future will be great/ if they have hope in the
future).

2. Housing
Housing is also essential to have a decent life. It is difficult for people to conduct their dailychores and to have family life without house. Therefore, this is important aspect to note forthe understanding of well-being. We suggest using the following 9 measurements: the numberof homeless people, the number of households feel the rent or mortgage is too much, degreeof satisfaction for own habitation, indicator of deprived housing, cleanness of the community,
environmental degradation in the surrounding areas, safety of the community, indicator ofnear-by surroundings (whether there are parks, hospitals and commercial centers) and numberof children who have no adult supervision after school.
Various study concluded that housing environment affects the level of well-being. In
particular, the degree of satisfaction towards their own housing, types of habitation(own/rental, mansion/apartment), the quality of habitation such as sufficient space andtranquility and the burden of the payment for housing are reported as important factors
affecting people‟s well-being (Doman´ski, et al., 2006).17 Also, the quality of housing isbelieved to produce a positive attitude towards one‟s own life including a feeling of happiness(Evans, Kantrowitz and Eshelman, 2001).
As in other studies, our preliminary survey of young people also shows that satisfaction ofown housing and the burden of rental or mortgage are contributing to the level of subjective
well-being. Satisfaction is influenced by the quality of their living environment such as
tranquility and sanitation (Figure12).
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%

30%
20%
10%
0%

SatisfiedSatisfaction with Tranquility

Not Satisfied with own housing

Not Satisfied

Satisfied with own housing

Figure12 Relationship between satisfaction of own housing
and the quality of living environment(Note) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey of Level of Happiness of Young People).

17 Bratt (2002) says that the density of households affects mental condition of the habitants.

22

To sum up, indicators to measure housing are suggested as below.
targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

The definition of "homeless " in・National Survey on the Actual Conditions of theJapan is different from otherHomeless (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)countries.

examples of overseas・OECD・EC (2007)individual

all agegroup

the number of homelesspeoplehouseholdall agegroup

the number of households feelthe rent or mortgage is too
・Preliminary survey of young people
much

・EU-SILC

householdall agegroup

degree of satisfaction for own
・Preliminary survey of young people
habitation

・Gallup World Pollhouseholdall agegroup

・Statistics on Housing and Land (density, andsanitation ) (Ministry of Internal Affairs andindicator of deprived housing
Communications, Statistical Bureau)（density, noise, sunlight, etc.)
・Preliminary survey of young people (noises andlightning)community/society

all agegroup

cleanness of the community

・Preliminary survey of young people

community/society

all agegroup

environmental degradation in
the surrounding areas (waterpollution and air pollution)・Preliminary survey of young people

Statistics on Housing and Land has
been conducted only every 5 years.
・EU-SILC
How do we set the standard of "thesufficient space".

・EU-SILC

It needs to include anxiety forradiation level.

・Social Survey (South Korean
Government Statistic Bureau)
・Gallup World Poll

community/society

all agegroup

safety of the community(people can walk alone atnight)

・Preliminary survey of young people

・Social Survey (South Korean
Government Statistic Bureau)(asking: if there are places they feelunsafe to walk at night/ what they
do to for the danger)
・Gallup World Poll (asking: if they
feel safe to walk around theirneighborhood at night)

community/society

all agegroup

indicator of near-by
surroundings (whether there
are parks, hospitals, andcommercial centers)

・Preliminary survey of young people

・EQLS (asking about afforestation)individual

childrennumber of children who has nonone
adult supervision after school

3. Parenting and Education
Parenting and education largely affect well-being. Despite the reward of parenting, somestruggle to bring up children. Depending on the situation of parenting support, parenting
could be more of a burden than be enjoyable. Hence, the environment for childbearing canincrease or decrease the level of well-being. Education is said to have a great influence on
every aspect of life by providing people with both are general and intellectual ability. There
are 13 suggested indicators. As for parenting, 6 indicators are proposed: regional disparities
of gynecologist and obstetrician, satisfaction of parenting, participation rate of male partners,
the number of children on the waiting list for nursing school or kindergarten, satisfaction
towards parenting support and the rate of people who have childcare leave. As for education,
7 indicators are suggested: educational attainment, attainment of life skills, child satisfactionof school environment, experiences during the childhood whether they had close
communication with parents or not, reported cases of bullying, high school dropout rate andthe number of young people who cannot study at high school or university due to economic
reasons.

23

According to the NSLP carried out in the fiscal year 2011, households with children havedifferent needs from those without children. Also, age of children influences parents‟ needs as
Figure 13 shows. As it can be easily expected, households with children under 6 years oldstrongly hope for a community that focuses on childbearing. In comparison with others, theirhope is considerably higher. In order to evaluate the situation of parenting, it is necessary toknow how satisfied parents are while bringing up children and the factors that affect theirdegree of satisfaction. Various studies have pointed out that the level of satisfaction is often
influenced by the environment. For instance, when parents cannot send their children to
nursing school or kindergartens even if they want to, their level of satisfaction would lower.
Community service, both physical and psychological support from the partner and parents,and support from work are also considered to affect parents‟ satisfaction towards childbearing(Sumita and Nakata, 1999; Nakamura, 2007; Watanabe and Higai, 2004). Additionally, thereis evidence that the degree of dedication of parents in childbearing influences not only
well-being during childhood, but also well-being in the later life of the child. Hence, theindicator to capture how much communication parents had with their children will also benecessary (Flouri, 2004).

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 (%)
education
parentingcommunity development
community security
support for nursing and the disabled
healthhouseholds with children under 6
years oldsports/art/culture

households with children of 6 to
20 years oldhousehold with children over 20
years oldhousehold with no children

Figure13 The parents‟ needs(Note) The data was extracted from the NSLP fiscal year 2010
conducted by the Cabinet Office

Education will affect people‟s life. It has a significantly large influence on the achievements
one would make in their life. At work, people with education are likely to have the ability to
conduct more tasks than ones without education, which will contribute to a higher life time
income. In daily life, education becomes useful to manage our own health, and quality ofeducation decides moral standards. Hence, it is crucial to have indicators to measure
educational attainment and quality of education. Particularly, noncognitive skills arerecognized as essential by the government in Japan, and the government is currently making
24

an effort to increase the quality of education. Quality of education cannot be measured by theassessment such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the OECDmeasurement for children‟s understandings of basic subject. Rather, it is more important toevaluate noncognitive abilities including how many children have personal skills, and how
well they are able to solve problems they would come across.18 Also, the accumulation ofresearch brings about not only innovation, but also research development with the purpose ofincreasing the quality of life in the region.
In addition, it is important to understand people‟s experiences of education both from thechildren‟s and the parents‟ points of view. For children, school is the place they spend most of
their time, therefore, the school environment often contributes largely to decide the level ofchildren‟s well-being.19 Hence, children‟s satisfaction on school life, and reported case ofbullying need to be investigated. Moreover, it is essential to pay attention to the negative
spiral of low educational attainment. Parents who have low level of educational attainment
can cause a household to suffer from poverty and social isolation. Child poverty and social
exclusion are reported to have a correlation with a low level of education in parents (Cabinet
Office, 2011b). Therefore, encompassing the trend of high school dropout rate andidentifying high-risk groups in the population will be essential to prevent inter-generational
poverty and social exclusion.
Taking the above discussions in to an account, suggested indicators are summarized in thefollowing table.
targetindicator

existing dataconsiderationindividual

all agegroup

educational attainment

community/society

all agegroup

・Statistics on Doctors, Dentists, and Pharmacists
regional disparities of gynecologist(every each year)(Ministry of Health, Labor andand obstetrician
Welfare)individual

childrenattainment of life skills(communication skills, being able to・Preliminary survey of young people
help people in trouble, being able toask for help, and etc.)

individual

childrenchild satisfaction on school
environment

examples of overseas

This can be different depending on thelevel of compulsory education. Also, there
are gaps between generations. (If the・OECDregion has more old age population, that ・National Statistics (various countries)
region are likely to have a lower level of
education.)・Population Census

・For school life in general, the Survey on Japanese
Youth In Comparison with the Youth of the World(Cabinet Office). The most recent survey was
carried out in the fiscal year 2008)
・For education in general, quality of teachers,
curriculum, and infrastructure of education, NSLP
(Cabinet Office)The questions should include "Is it easy ・OECD PISA
for you to communicate with the others?", ・OECD Cognitive/Non-cognitive skill
and "Can you ask for help when you are study
in trouble?"
・NLSY-CS1997

The Youth of the World are carried out
only every 5 years. The National Survey
on Lifestyle Preferences had included thequestion related to this indicator only
once.

・Social Survey 2009 (South Korean
Government Statistic Bureau) (asking: if
they are satisfied with school environment
including lecture, teaching, relations withstudents, relations with teachers, school
infrastructure, surrounding environment,
awarded degree, and living overall)

18 Heckman, Stixrud, and Urzua (2006) researched noncognitive ability by using ego and internal control. Cunha andHeckman (2009) focused on the aspect of anti-sociality, anxieties, and self-centeredness, and attention disorder.
19 Randolph, Kangas and Ruokamo (2010) show the positive correlation between life satisfaction of students andsatisfaction of school life.

25

targetindicator

existing dataconsiderationindividual

childrenexperiences during thechildhood weather they had
・Preliminary survey of young people (it has not
close communication withsurveyed on children)
parents or not (whether parents
read bed time story etc.)

individual

childrenreported cases of bullying

・Survey on Education towards ProblematicStudents (Ministry of Education)

Tachibanaki Survey

examples of overseas

・NLSY-CS1997

Grasping the number of of bullying isdifficult, because it is often hidden.

Based on the Survey on Education
towards Problematic Students (theMinistry of Education), it is possible tounderstand the rate of the dropouts amongones who have enrolled to the high・Eurostat (Population of the non-educated,school. But the rate of people whose
primary or middle school graduates
educational attainment is below highbetween 25 and 64 years old is calculated
school cannot be obtained. Although the from the Labor Force Survey)
MIC has the Survey on Labor Force, thissurvey does not separate primary
graduate, middle school graduate and highshcool graduate.

individual

childrenhigh school dropout rate (therate of people whose
・no exact data available
educational attainment is below
high school)

individual

adultsatisfaction of parenting

・Preliminary survey of young people
・NSLP Fiscal Year 2009 (Cabinet Office) (asking
about childbearing environment)

There are surveys conduced by private
institutions to be considered for its usage.

individual

adult

participation rate of malepartners for parenting

none

There are surveys conduced by private
institutions to be considered for its usage.
(For instance the male satisfaction ofparenting.)

householdadult

the number of children on thewaiting list for nursing schoolor kindergarten

・The number of children on the waiting list for
nursing school is available by the Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare.

The number of children on the waiting list
for kinder garden is not available.

householdadult

the number of young people
who cannot study at highschool or university due toeconomic reasons・Preliminary survey of young people

It needs to consider if this is to ask
parents or the children

・Social Survey 2009 (South Korean
Government Statistic Bureau) (asking if
they could obtained the degree they havedeserved)community/society

adult

・NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office) （asking:satisfaction towards parenting the convenience of using the support including the
supportdistance, available hours, and cost, as well as
quality of staff, and quality of facilities.)

individual

adult

the rate of people who havechildcare leave

This rate of existing survey does notinclude women who retired before giving
birth, yet they should be included.

・OECD Family Database・Basic Survey of Gender Equality in Employment
Management (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare)4. Employment
In Happiness Studies, unemployment is a central issue as believed to have a largest negative
influence on happiness and well-being. It has been proved that the employed have a higher
level of happiness than that of the unemployed (Clark and Oswald, 1994; Blanchflower and
Oswald, 2004), 20 and the level of happiness lowers when people become unemployed(Winkelmann and Winkelmann, 1997). Hence, the situation of employment needs to be
included as an aspect contributing to well-being. This aspect will be measured by 15
indicators. For targeting the whole population, 4 indicators will be used: the rate of undesired
contractual workers, the number of jobless households, the number of companies with female
workers in administrative position, and the number of research related workers. For young
people, 4 indicators are considered: the number of the NEET (Not in Employment, Educationor Training), youth unemployment rate, the number of young entrepreneurs, and the number
20 For the reference to Japan, see Ohtake (2004), and the Cabinet Office (2008).

26

of young people who hope to become an entrepreneur. For adult, 6 indicators are suggested:job satisfaction, the effective ratio of job offers to applicants, anxiety towards karoushi (death
due to excessive amount of work), the ratio of the employed who suffer from harassment, thenumber of long-term unemployed and the number of unemployed people who strongly
desired to work (particularly women who cannot work due to household tasks). As for the oldaged population under 80 years old, social participation rate will be used to see their social
networks after their retirement.
A job provides material wealth to the worker, but it also provides rewards including social
connection and joy as well as providing wealth to the family of the worker. Hence, theconsequence of losing one‟s job is more than losing a sustainable income. Those who feel a
responsibility to look after their family, such as middle aged men, often suffer most fromlosing job. In addition to losing sustainable income to provide for a decent family life, there isan overall negative psychological effect, which sometimes lowers self-esteem, causing afeeling of uselessness about themselves and even leading to severe depression (Goldsmith,
Veum and Darity, 1996; Frey and Stutzer, 2002). Some research even pointed out that thisnegative consequence of losing one‟s job will not disappear easily, some people suffer from
unhappiness for more than 5 years even after they have gained other jobs (Clark et al. 2008).
Our preliminary survey of young people also showed this tendency that those who had
experienced unemployment in the past have statistically lower level of happiness (Figure14).
Therefore, being unemployed for a long period of time, and unable to work despite ones‟
wills due to other social responsibility has a considerable negative effect on well-being ofpeople.
The level ofhappiness

6.5

6

5.5

5
no experience of being
unemployedhaving experience of being
unemployedcurrently unemployed
The experience of
employment

Figure 14 The experience of unemployment and the level of happiness(Note) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey on Level of Happiness of Young People).

27

Because the significance of having a job is not only to obtain a sustainable income, thedegree of enjoyment at work matters. That is influenced by how much he/she wanted that job,
how suitable the job is, or how rewarding the job is. Also, it is crucial to understand working
environment including the companies‟ efforts to provide a better working environment withno harassment and no excessive amount of work.
Additionally, the complicated situation of the unemployed youth needs to be investigated.
There is a phenomenon of large youth unemployment, existence of the NEET and the
problem of hikikomori, those who have chosen to withdraw from society and reject leaving
their home or even room so they can isolate themselves from society. Nevertheless, there areyoung people with a more positive attitude, such as ones who start up their own business withcreative idea, which bring about a positive impact on the other young people. 21 Hence, it isessential to have indicators particularly for young people, such as the youth unemployment
rate, and the NEET rate as well as the number of youth entrepreneurs, and the number ofyoung people who hope to become an entrepreneur.
Another important aspect of Japanese Society is that we have an aged population, and theelderly play a significant role in our society. Having a large amount of lively and active
elderly people helps to create a society filled with positive energy. In particular, it is desirable
if the elderly people can use their various skills gained throughout their life to solve societal
problems. Hence, indicators to capture number of elderly people who eagerly participate insocial activities would be helpful.
Taking the above discussions into considerations, propose indicators are summarized in thetable below.
targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

・General Survey on Diversified Types of
Employment 2010, 2007, 2003, 1999,
How do we define "undesired contractual workers".
1994 (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare)individual

all agegroup

the rate of undesired contractual
workers

householdall agegroup

the number of jobless households

community/society

all agegroup

the number of companies withfemale workers administrative
position・Basic Survey on Management of Female
Employment (Ministry of Health, Labor There is no data available after 2007.
and Welfare)community/society

all agegroup

the number of research related
workers

・Survey Report on Science andTechnology Research (MIC, Statistical
Bureau )individual

youth

the number of the NEET・White Paper on Labor Economy(Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)・Preliminary survey of young people

・EU-SILC

・MSTI

21 The relationship between the NEET and adjustment to society is discussed in Norasakkunkit and Uchida (in press) andToivonen, Norasakkunkit and Uchida (2011).

28

targetindividual

indicator

existing dataconsideration

・Survey on Labor Force (MIC, Statistics
Bureau)examples of overseas
・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD

youth

youth unemployment rateindividual

youth・Survey on Business and Companies(MIC, Statistics Bureau)
・Annual Statistics of National Tax
This existing data cannot identify the age ofthe number of young entrepreneurs Agency (National Tax Agency)
entrepreneurs.
・Statistical Yearbook of Civil Rights,
Litigation, and Human Rights (Ministry ofLaw)

individual

youth

the number of young people whohope to become an entrepreneur

The survey carried out by the MIC asks if they have・Basic Survey on the Employment (MIC,
thought about starting up bisoness, but the question
Statistics Bureau)should ask quality aspects.

individual

adult

job satisfaction (reward)

・ NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet
Office)・ Preliminary survey of young people

・National Statistics (various countries)
・WHO Mortality Databaseindividual

adultthe effective ratio of job offers toapplicants

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has
the data of the situation of job openings.

・National Statistics (various countries)

individual

adultanxiety towards karoushi

・Preliminary survey of young people

individualadult・Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
has the data on the situation of the Equal
the ratio of the employed suffers (orThe survey does not include the past experiences.
Employment Opportunity Law, whichsuffered) from harassment
Also it does not include other types of harassments.
includes the data on number of cases ofreported sexual harassment.

individual

adult

the number of long-term
unemployed

The survey defines one year as a long-term. It is
・Survey on Labor Force (MIC, Statisticalnecessary to evaluate if this definition is applicable
Bureau)to measure well-being.

individual

adultnumber of the unemployed whostrongly desired to work(particularly women who cannot
work due to household tasks)

・Annual Population and Social Security
Surveys (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare) for employment rate after giving
the birth for first child.

social participation rate (especially
under 80 years old)・Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC,
Statistical Bureau) for volunteer
participation rate.
The indicator should include "job" in the social
・NSLP (Cabinet Office) for theparticipation rate because there are people who
participation as volunteers, the filed to be work after the retirement.
participated, the number of times/hours
participated, the reasons for participation.

individual

elderly

There is the data of number of recognized case of
Karoushi , this can be used as an objective
indicator.

・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD

5. Social system
It is unquestionable that social system (social infrastructure) influences well-being throughvarious aspects of our life including housing, childbearing, education, and employment.
Particularly, it is important to understand how trustworthy the social system is in order to see
its sustainability or to forecast the influence of the social system on individuals in the future.
There are 5 indicators to be proposed: trust of the social system, the number of the
non-registered in the national pension scheme and health insurance, the recognition of public
security, the recognition of the system of public comments, and voters‟ turnout rate.
Trust towards social system can be measured by the indicator of trust in the government by29asking people‟s opinion. Additionally, the number of the non-registered in national pension
scheme can be used as an objective indicator to see how trustworthy and how sustainable thesocial system is. Because it is expected that ones who do not trust the social system are notwilling to pay for the national pension scheme, if the rate is higher, it shows the publicgenerally distrust the social system.22 When people distrust the national pension scheme, thisscheme is probably not sustainable although one‟s pension is very important in old age.
Moreover, in developed regions especially, social systems need an evaluation of theirdemocratic governance. Democracy is measured by indicators, such as if the government islistening to the voice of the public, or if the government has higher accountability (Helliwelland Huang 2005). It is important that the people trust their democratic governance, and areaware of their own rights to take part in the decision making process. Also, the indicator of
subjective evaluation of public safety can understand how peaceful people living in society
are, which an objective indicator of safety, such as crime rate, cannot represent.
Indicators are summarized in the table below.
targetindicator

existing dataconsiderationindividual

all agegroup

trust of the social system

It is sufficient to measure the trust towards thegovernment.

individual

all agegroup

the number of the non-registered in・Preliminary survey of young people
the national pension scheme and・Commission of Social Security
health insurance

individual

all agegroup

the recognition of public security

・Public Poll on Public Security (Cabinet Surveys are not consistent. (The survey in 2007 is
Office)the most recent).

individual

all agegroup

the recognition of the system of
public comments

・NSLP fiscal year 2007(Cabinet Office) The survey is done only once.

community/society

all agegroup

voters‟ turnout rate

・MIC has the record.

none

The election could include not only the generalelection but also other elections.

examples of overseas
・Gallup World Poll (asking: the trust
towards national police, supreme court,
and medical system)・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD

22 In the case of Japan, a very small amount of people do not have pensions due to financial reasons.

30

(3) HealthWell-being depends largely on one‟s health, and health includes physical heath andpsychological health. This domain therefore focuses on both physical and psychologicalhealth including several indicators. Indicators are divided into three groups: physical health,psychological health and relating to both kinds of health.
1. Physical healthAs stated earlier, health is chosen as the most important factor for well-being by most of the
population, and particularly old aged women value its importance (Figure 5 in Section2).
Although there is research that the level of happiness of the disabled is not necessarily lower
than that of people who have won the lottery, this is thought to be due to the adjustingmechanism of human beings (Brickman et al., 1978). Five indicators are proposed here: therate of patients with long-term illnesses, child mortality rate, rate of child sickness, capabilityof the elderly to conduct Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and the number of bedridden
elderly.
Firstly, the rate of patients with long-term illnesses is proposed as an indicator because
long-term illnesses often limit people‟s activity, which will lower their level of subjective
well-being not only due to their illness, but also due to their limited mobility. Additionally, it
is necessary to consider what matters the people at different stages of their life in relation towell-being. As for children, child mortality rate and infant mortality rate are suggested asindicators. Because these rates are normally higher than that of adult mortality rate, it is betterto separate these indicators. In order to capture how many children suffer from illnesses, it is
proposed to use the rate of illnesses including modern illnesses such as asthma and atopic
dermatitis.23
Also, different indicators are needed for the elderly. In general, the elderly frequently visit
hospital as outpatients, and the severity of illness does not necessarily correlate to the numberof outpatient visits. Hence, rather than the number of outpatients visits, it is more suitable tolook at whether physical limitations cause them to have any problems in conduct their daily
life. Therefore two indicators are proposed: the number of bedridden patients who requirelong-term care and the number of elderly who cannot conduct ADL such as eating, dressing,
toileting and bathing.
Taking the above considerations into account, five indicators are summarized in the following
table.

23 In the U.S., 8.9 % of children are reported as patient of asthma (Akinbami, 2006).

31

targetindicator

existing data

individual

all agegroup

the rate of patients with long-term
illnesses

individual

childrenchild mortality rate (new born child ・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health,mortality and infant mortality)
Labor and Welfare)individual

childrenconsideration

examples of overseas

・EU-SILC (asking: if they have been
It needs to define the length of "long-term", and it
suffering from illness over 6 months
might need to take into the seriousness of the illness
including seasonal illness, and how severe
into consideration.
it is)

none

It needs to separate mortality rate of new bornbabies and infants because of its large differences.

・National Statistics (various countries)
・WHO Mortality Databaserate of child sickness

・Survey on School Health (Ministry of
Education)
・Comprehensive Survey of Living
Conditions of the People(Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare) for hospital
outpatients visits

・A Picture of Australia's children (theGovernment of Australia)

・SHARE

individual

elderly

Activity of Daily Living (ADL)

・Comprehensive Survey of Living
Conditions of the People(the Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)・Hitotsubashi RIETI JSTAR

individual

elderly

the number of bedridden elderly

・Comprehensive Survey of Living
Conditions of the People(Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)

It is only conducted every 3 years.

2. Psychological healthIn developed countries, psychological health is becoming an issue.24 Referring to well-being,previous studies suggest that psychological ill health lowers the level of well-being, hence
psychological health is one of the most important factors should be measured when
determining well-being.25 There are 9 indicators: the number of suicides, degree of stress,
suicidal ideation, satisfaction towards counseling, reported cases of child abuse, number ofchild protection institutions with counselors, number of children with development
disabilities, number of patients with depression and occurrence rate of dementia.
In order to see how influential psychological health is to formulate one‟s well-being, and to
discuss suitable indicators to capture psychological health, we have conducted a preliminary
analysis by using the data we collected on young people. We have firstly surveyed
psychological health of young people by using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS),
and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Although thosepreliminary surveys were conducted at different times, results of both methods showed acorrelation between the level of happiness and the severity of depression (Figure 15).

24 According to Baumeister and Härter (2007), the surveys carried out in the U.S., Australia, Germany, and Holland
revealed that, 6.6-11.9% of the respondents suffered from mental disorders, and 5.6-18.1% of the respondents suffered fromanxiety in the past 12 months.
25 Bergsma, Have, Veenhoven and Graaf (2011) reported that happiness indicators are valid to measure well-being because
he found: Patients with psychological disorders less frequently feel happy in comparison to healthy people. Mentally illpatients do not increase their happiness with time, which in other words, patients cannot adjust themselves to the situation
and become happier. Regardless mental illness, satisfaction with family life and loneliness is statistically influential to thelevel of happiness.

32

The level ofhappiness

10
December, 2010 SDS

March, May, 2011 CES-D

50
no symptom of
depression

mild symptom of
depression

general symptom of
depression

severe symptom of
depression
The degree ofdepression

Figure 15 Mental health and the level of happiness(Note1) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey on Level of Happiness of Young People).

Also, other surveys report that people with a greater amount of stress have a lower level ofhappiness, and they are at the high risk suffering from severe mental illnesses.26 In mostcases, suicidal ideation and suicide are caused by excessive stress and mental illness.
Although it is impossible to know subjective well-being of the dead, it is easily guessed thatare person who commits suicide was not a happy individuals.27 Statistically, our preliminary
survey discovered that those who have a higher level of suicidal ideation are likely to have alower level of happiness. (Figure16)

26 According to the Cabinet Office (2009), stress is one of the largest contributors in decreasing the level of happiness ofpeople in Japan.
27 Although some cross section analysis concludes that there is no relations between level of happiness with suicide, panel
data analysis for the last 20 years show the relationships between the two (Koivumaa-Honkanen et al., 2007; Daly andWilson, 2008).

33

(%)

40

30

suicidal ideation

20

10

Level of happiness

0
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Figure 16 The relationship between suicidal ideation and level of happiness(Note1) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey on Level of Happiness of Young People).
(Note 2) X-axis represents the level of happiness. Y-axis is the percentage of people who either “hasunsuccessful suicidal experience” or “has seriously considered to kill themselves” within a year.

Moreover, previous studies show that people who feel lonely have a lower level of happiness(Gary, Lee and Ishii-Kuntz, 1987). According to the NSLP, around 10% of the population is
feeling lonely at school, in the community, at work and even at home (Figure17). From ourpreliminary analysis, there is a negative correlation between loneliness and happiness, andpeople who feel lonely are less likely to be happy.
(%)
100%

90%

21.20
30.57

27.48

80%
48.85
70%
34.50

60%

32.14
37.54

50%

40%
27.43
30%

31.50

28.54
20.88

20%
13.58

10%

0%

7.32

10.45

9.27

8.67

2.83

2.36

FamilyCommunity

1.74
Workplace

SchoolFeels very lonely

Feels slightly lonely

Feels nither lonely nor not lonely

Does not feel lonely

3.17

Does not feel lonely at all

Figure 17 The percentage of people who feel lonely in various places(Note 1) The data was extracted from the NSLP fiscal year 2010.
(Note2) Calculation of the percentage was made without ones who did not answer.
34(place)According to the above discussions, the indicator of depression is useful to measure adultpsychological health. In considering different age groups, however, the indicator of
depression is not sufficient. For example, psychological health of children is better capturedby the indicator of development disabilities, or the indicator of child abuse. Also, in order tomeasure mental health of the aged population, dementia is a more suitable indicator toemploy.
Additionally, indicators to understand the community and societal support for mentally illpatients, and support for child protection will be useful in order to see how much effort has
been made, and how much the community has paid attention to those issues.
Various indicators are summarized as following.
targetindividual

individual

indicator
all agegroup

all agegroup

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

the number of suicides

・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare), National Policy
Agency has the data of suicide.

degree of stress

・NSLP fiscal year 2007 and 2008
(Cabinet Office)・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare) asks if the
respondents have stress and worries

・Bhutan GNH (asking: how stressful theirlife was in the past year/what are the
The NSLP includes related questions only in thefactors, and how often they had feeling offiscal year 2007 and 2008. The Vital Statistics isfrustration or peace last week)
conducted only every 3 years. Additionally, they do ・Social Survey 2010 (South Korean
not ask about the degree of the stresses.
Government, Statistical Bureau)(asking:how stressful last 2 weeks havebeen)
・Social Statistics 2010 (the South Korean
Government, Statistical Bureau）(asking: if
they had attempt to commit suicide within
the past year and its reason)
・SHARE (asking: if they have thought tokill themselves last month)・National Statistics (various countries)
・WHO Mortality Databaseindividual

all agegroup

suicidal ideation

・Preliminary survey of young people

community/society

all agegroup

satisfaction towards counselingnone

individual

childrenreported cases of child abuse・Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
has the data on the situation of childcounseling in the municipal.

community/societychildrennumber of child protection
institutions with counselors

・Survey of Social Welfare Institution (theMinistry of Health, Labor and Welfare)individual

childrennumber of children with
development disabilities (attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder）

・In 2002, Ministry of Education
conducted a nation-wide survey.

individual

adultnumber of patients with depression

・Preliminary survey of young people(SDS, CES-D）

individual

elderlyoccurrence rate of dementia

The number of recognized long-term care patients・Patient Survey (every 3 years) (Ministry
who receive insurance can be used as alternate
of Health, Labor and Welfare)indicator.

The number of hospitals are found in the Survey ofMedical Institutions (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare).
・Child Protection Australia (Australian
government) (including the number ofcases reported, and the number of casesuccessfully managed)

・HHS (the U.S.) have been conducted
Is it really appropriate to use the number of children
every 4 years.
with development disorders? If children have not
・British Survey of Child and Adolescentbeen examined, it is impossible to assess the reality.
Mental Health (Kings College)

・EC proposes as one of the indicators

3. Indicators that relate to both physical and psychological health
There are various indicators to capture both physical and psychological health. Seven
indicators are included here: average life expectancy at birth, satisfaction towards medical
services, degree of exhaustion of family members with patients, satisfaction towards external
35

support for nursing, reported cases of domestic violence, maternal mortality rate andsubjective evaluation of own health.
The average life expectancy at birth (age) is often used as a measurement of physical health.28
However, in considering the number of people committing suicide, this measurement is moresuitable to be used as a common indicator. Nonetheless, this indicator needs carefulinterpretations. This is constructed based on the hypothesis that the current death rate andreasons for the death will remain the same in the future, yet, in practice they change.
Therefore, it is necessary to take expected changes in death factors in to consideration for theinterpretation of this indicator. Additionally, satisfaction towards medical services is also
included here because they provide services for both physically and psychologically illpatients.
There are also some indicators that need to be taken into account in relation to Japan,
although other countries do not need to do so, as Japan is moving more and more towards anaged society. In recent years, there have been an increase in the number of care givers,
generally family members, who suffer from physical and psychological disorder due toexhaustion. Therefore, in the case of Japan, it is necessary to consider the health of family
members, and external support provided for nursing.
In addition, reported cases of domestic violence are included here as an indicator because
domestic violence has both physical and psychological consequences. The elderly‟s
self-evaluation of their health is also suggested here as mental health largely affects their
physical condition, and consequently their overall evaluation of their own health.
Indicators are summarized in the following table.

28 One of four indicators used in the Human Development Index (HDI) by the UNDP is the average life expectancy at birth(age). Veenhoven (2007) says that when people are happy, people are less likely to have illness.

36

targetindividual

community/societyindicator
all agegroup

all agegroup

existing dataconsideration

average life expectancy at birth(age)・Life Tables (Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare)Life expectancy at current age can be substitute tothis indicator.

satisfaction towards medical
services

・NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office)for satisfaction for: medical services ingeneral, distance to hospital, waiting
hours in the hospital, cost, and medical
standard.

examples of overseas

・National Statistics (various countries)

・Social Survey 2010 (South Korean
Government) (asking: the medical services
people have used with in a year, and its
degree of satisfaction)

For the nursing, it is possible to assess the numberof households with long-term care patients, andstress and worries of care givers from health recordin the Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare).

community/society

all agegroup

degree of exhaustion of family
members with patientsnone

community/society

all agegroup

satisfaction towards external
support for nursing

none

individual

adultreported cases of domestic violence ・National Police Agency

individual

adultmaternal mortality rateindividual

elderly・Comprehensive Survey of Living
subjective evaluation of own health Conditions of the People (Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare)37

The survey is only conducted every 3 years.

・EU-SILC
・Social Survey 2010 (South Korean
Government)

(4) Relatedness
Relatedness plays an important role in conducting daily life, and it affects well-being ofpeople. Relatedness will be measured by indicators capturing life style, family ties, bonding
with community and closeness to nature.
1. Life style
Life style reflects individual values or preferences that are shaped by the era which we live.
But at the same time, life style outlines the economic environment and social relations. Seven
indicators are included to measure life style: length of free time, satisfaction with time
allocation, number of people who wish to work for public wealth, openness towards foreigncultures, time management of children, actual utilization of paid leave and Instrumental
Activity of Daily Living (IADL).
As stated earlier, Japanese people have a negative image of their own society as “people are
too busy to relax”. However, findings from our preliminary survey on young people do notshow a positive relationship between the length of free time and the level of happiness(Figure 18). Therefore, it is essential to investigate their quality of free time, which can bemeasured by the satisfaction of time allocation.
The
Thelevellevelofof
happinesshappiness

7
6
5
4

3
2
1
0
Shorter than 7 hours

7 hours to 13 hours

Longer than 13 hours

Length of freetime

Figure 18 Length of free time and the level of happiness(Note) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey on Level of Happiness of Young People).

Also, it is useful to see how people want to use their free time, whether they are willing todevote their time to the community, or wanting to use all their free time for their own
38recreation. It is because the way people use their time will consequently contribute to thenational well-being. It is noted that separate indicators for different age groups are needed
such as time management of children, the actual utilization of paid leave and the indicator of
IADL as people have different life style in accordance to their age lifestyle.
In addition to the time usage and management, acceptance towards cultural diversity is also
important to assess people‟s life style. This will be measured based on the declaration madein the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity whether society as a whole isopened to cultural diversity.
Taking into account the above considerations, suggested indicators are summarized in thefollowing table.
targetindividual

indicator

all agegroup

length of free time

existing dataconsideration

・Basic Survey on Social Life (Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications,
The survey is only conducted every 5 years.
Statistical Bureau)

examples of overseas

・National Statistics of Time Use Survey(various countries)

NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office) includes
questions related to time allocation (asking: if they
allocate their time both to the work and the private
・EQLS
life/if they have sufficient time to spend withfamily/if they have sufficient time for friends/if they
have enough time to be alone).

individual

all agegroup

satisfaction with time allocationnone

individual

all agegroup

number of people who wish towork for public wealth・Preliminary survey of young people

society

all agegroup

openness towards foreign cultures none

individual

childrentime management of children

・Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC,
Statistical Bureau)

individual

adultactual utilization of paid leave

The existing data only show an average utilization of・General Survey on Working Conditions
・Employee Benefits Survey (SHRM）.
paid leave. It might be better to assess how many(the Ministry of Health, Labor andNewspoll (Australian organization）
percent of people can utilize their paid leave for how
Welfare)research on this issue.
many times.

individual

elderly

Instrumental Activity of Daily Living
・Hitotsubashi RIETI JSTAR(IADL)

Japan has signed on the UNESCO Universal
Declaration on Cultural Diversity

・The Thai government and the EC have ameasurement of civil power (asking if theyshould prevent outside influence to protect
own culture)・National Statistics of Time Use Survey(various countries)

・SHARE

2. Family ties
Well-being indicators in Asian countries such as Bhutan and Thailand put importance onfamily ties, and it is evidenced that the countries with stronger family ties have higher levelsof happiness (Alesina and Giuliano, 2007). Also, family relations are said to be crucial insustaining mental health (Cobb, 1976). Hence, this is an essential aspect to be included, and 8
indicators are suggested: closeness to family and friends, number of single households,
feelings of isolation, existence of the person who can be totally trusted and who would give39

some help in a time of crisis, satisfaction on family life, number of children and youth whofeel isolated, number of elderly living alone without family staying nearby and number ofhousehold living far from other family members. These suggested indicators will show thedepth of the relationship and the high-risk population who will become socially excluded.
Following table summarizes indicators suggested to capture family ties.
targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

individual

all agegroup

closeness to family and friends

・Preliminary survey of young people

・Social Survey 2010 (South Korean
Government, Statistic Bureau) (asking: howoften they meet up with their parents or talkon the phone)individual

all agegroup

the number of single households

・Population Census

・Census (various countries)

individual

all agegroup

feeling of isolation

・Preliminary survey of young people(UCLA loneliness indicator)
・NSLP fiscal year 2010 (the Cabinet
Office)It may contain too many questions.

・Preliminary survey of young people
the existence of the person who can ・The National Institute of Population and It should ask both "if they have someone who
be totally trusted and who would
Social Security Research established the would help them in the time of need" and "if theygive some help in the time of crisis commission of the comprehensive survey have someone who gives unconditional love".
on social life.

・Social Survey 2010 (South Korean
Government, Statistic Bureau) (asking: how
many people would help them when they
are in trouble such as having flu, having
trouble with money, feeling depressed, andetc).
・EU SILC 2009 (asking: if they haveanyone who would help them when they
are in trouble)

individual

all agegroup

householdall agegroup

satisfaction on family lifenone・Social Survey 2010 (South Korean
Government, Statistic Bureau) (asking: thedegree of satisfaction on family life,
partner, children, parents, step parents,
brothers, and step brothers)

individual

childrenthe number of children and youth
who feels isolatednone・OECD PISA

individual

elderly

the number of elderly living alone
without family staying nearby

nonehouseholdadult

the number of household living far
from family members

・Preliminary survey of young people

3. Bonding with community
At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, solidarity of community played a great role.
For example, the community was able to lead safe evacuation during the tsunami or able toestablish shelters. Also, it is said that child development is not determined by the family
effort but influenced by the neighborhood context.29 Hence, bonding with the community is
expected to affect one‟s level of well-being. There are 12 indicators followed by the indicatorof self-perceived usefulness in the society. Four indicators are suggested to capture individual
feeling towards the community and others: general trust, number of people who think it isnatural to help people in trouble, share of people who want to continue to live in the current
place and altruism. Five indicators are proposed to understand community networks:
29 Most studies of neighborhood effect focus on poverty, delinquency, crime, and mental illness (Sampson, Morenoff and
Gannon-Rowley, 2002). Leventhal and Brooks-Gunn (2003) investigate the psychological influence in detail, Small andNewman (2001) discusses the problem of single parents and isolation.

40

intergenerational communication in the community, community engagement, rate ofhikikomori, feelings of alienation and frequency of participation in activities of NPO, NGO,
sports groups and hobby groups. Two indicators are thought to be useful to assess community
environment: places for recreation, and security. Moreover, as a modern sense of community,
degree of internet-based community formation is suggested as an indicator.
General trust towards others and self- perceived usefulness have been focused on by
psychologists to understand people‟s relationships with the community and society.30 In
general, the degree of trust determines one‟s will to conduct activities either to produce own
benefit or to collaborate with others to produce public wealth. For instance, individuals makedifferent decisions when facing the dilemma between energy use for their own purposes andenergy saving for a long-term public benefit of society depending on how much one trusts
others (Yamagishi, 1999). Also, self-perceived usefulness is believed to sustain social life or
to prevent people from losing motivation.31 In the discussion of social capital, bonding with
community is often addressed, and it is said there is a close relation between social capitaland well-being.32 Social capital is measured by the participation rate for NPO activities or
activities to bring about public wealth. The preliminary survey proved that there is a positive
correlation between people who have a high level of well-being and those who participate insocial activities although we are unable to determine the causality. (Figure19)

5.7

5.8

5.9

6

6.1

6.2

6.3

Figure 19 Motivation towards engagement with social activities.
(Note) The data was extracted from the preliminary survey(ESRI (2011) The Survey on Level of Happiness of Young People).

30 For studies on trust and happiness, see Tov and Diner (2009), Helliwell and Wang (2010).
31 Ishimoto and Kurasawa (2009) report that children who recognize their own significance at home have a higher
motivation and achieve more at school. Yamazaki et.al (2009) reports that homeless people feel less significance towards
their existence after receiving the government living support.
32 Helliwell and Putnam (2004) analyze that there are positive relationships between closeness with family and the level ofhappiness. Helliwell (2005) clarifies that trust to others and the participation in nonprofit activities correlates with the levelof happiness.

41

Considering the above discussions, suggested indicators are summarized in the following
table.
targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

individual

all agegroup

self-perceived usefulness in thesocietynone

There are surveys conducted by the private
institutions such as the Homeless Survey in Kita
Kyushu. Also, there are researches in the filed ofdevelopment psychology.

individual

all agegroup

general trust・Preliminary survey of young people

It needs to consider whether to use general trust or ・Bhutan GNH (asking: how much they
trust to the neighbors.
trust the people of Bhutan)

individual

all agegroup

number of people who think it isnatural to help people in troublenone

individual

all agegroup

・The Cabinet Office conducts theOpinion Survey on the Community
intergenerational communication in
Participation of Elderly every 5 years,
the community
which includes the question ofintergenerational communication

householdall agegroup

community engagement

society

all agegroup

・Trend Survey on Usage of Information
degree of internet-based community Technology (MIC) for the number of
It needs to consider if the participation rate isformation
private HP and blogs, and participation in appropriate indicator.
Social Network Service

community/society

all agegroup

share of people who want tononecontinue to live in the current place

individual

all agegroup

altruism (blood donation, giving)

individual

childrenrate of hikikomori

・The Survey on Hikikomori (the Cabinet
It is done only once.
Office)individual

childrenfeelings of alienation

none

NEET and hikikomori can be used for children as
well.

individual

childrenplaces for recreationnone

It needs to consider if the indicators can be exactly ・National Survey of Children's Healthsame as the U.S., or it should include other aspects (Department of Health and Humansuch as the communication with other children.
Services, the U.S.)

individual

childrencommunity security (neighborhood ・Preliminary survey of young people
effect)(crime and violence in the community)

individual

adult・Gallup World Survey (asking: if they
helped strangers who are facing problems)

・Bhutan GNH (asking: how strongly do
you feel you belong to the community/if thecommunity treat you equally/ if you haveworked for the community in the past 12
months).

・Preliminary survey of young people

There are some surveys carried out by municipality
such as Kanuma city (Tochigi), Hino city (Tokyo),
Chigasaki city (Kanagawa), Katano city (Osaka),
Kumatori-cho (Osaka), Anan city (Fukushima)etc.).

・Gallup World Poll (asking: If they will
recommend their community or your town
to your friends to live in/if they are planningto move out from the community)

The Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC, Statistic・Social Survey 2009 (South Korean
Bureau) in only conducted every 5 years. The
Bureau of Statistics ) (asking: number of
NSLP (Cabinet Office) has relevant indicator only
times, and length of hours people
fiscal year 2009 and 2010, and it does not include
participated in volunteer activities for theactivities of hobbies and supports. Also, the rate ofpast year)
participation is the rate of people participated in・Gallup World Poll (asking: whether they
those activities more than once a month. This may
have used their time for volunteering in the
not be sufficient time of participation to measure
past month)relatedness.

・NSLP fiscal year 2009 and 2010
frequency of participation in(Cabinet Office)activities of NPO, NGO, and sports
・Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC,
group and hobby group
Statistic Bureau)424. Closeness to nature
Education about environment and conservation tries to increase an understanding of local
nature and culture, and remind people to respect nature. It is important for people to haveskills for nature conservation and recognize the greatness of nature. Japanese people live inharmony with nature on these natural disaster prone islands. It has been believed that nature
has a superior power to control and protect human‟s lives and people appreciate and respectnature. Nonetheless, Japanese people nowadays are losing their harmonious life style, andlack of contact with nature is said to make people more stressful. Therefore, it is critical toreconsider a relationship with the environment. Four indicators are suggested: degree ofreverence for nature, degree of understandings of local nature and culture, degree ofrecognition towards local traditions and degree of understanding of environmental issues.
Additionally, as an objective indicator, evacuation rates in disasters are thought to be useful
because they show the depth of understanding of nature as well as how closely people have
lived with nature.
Additionally, there are many other important indicators. Some suggest that spirituality is themost important. In practice, many empirical analyses prove that religious people generally
have a higher level of happiness. 33
Indicators are summarized in the table below.
targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

Some investigation have been conducted during theenvironment education. (Do you think nature is very
important?, Do you think nature is powerful?, Do
you have fear against nature?, Do you feel you arealive thanks to nature?, Do you some time think
your life is led by some powerful energy?, Do you
feel you are secured by nature?, Do you thank tonature?)individual

all agegroup

degree of reverence for naturenone

individual

all agegroup

degree of understandings of local
nature and culturenone

individual

all agegroup

degree of recognition towards local
tradition (whether people heard and none
understands old sayings)

It is very important during the natural disaster. Old
saying includes the knowledge to save themselvesfrom natural disasters such as tsunami or
earthquakes.

individual

all agegroup

degree of understandings ofenvironment issues

none

The Chamber of Commerce introduced the exam
for the certificate of environment

community/society

all agegroup

evacuation rate in disasters

municipality

・Bhutan the National Gross Happiness(asking: to name one of the most importantfestival in your community/ to name plants
and animals living in the community)

33 For more details, see Tsutsui, Ohtake and Ikeda (2009) etc.

43・ World Economic Forum, theEnvironmental Sustainability Index
・Gallup World Poll (asking: how much doyou understand global warming/how
serious global environment is for you andyour family, and etc.)

(5) Sustainability
Sustainability of well-being is particularly important to evaluate national well-being. These
proposed well-being indicators look at sustainability issues from an environmental point ofview. The focuses will be placed on 7 fields of the environment: global warming issues,
material cycle, air environment, water environment, chemical substances, biodiversity andecological footprint. Also, these try to incorporate attitudes towards environmental
sustainability by looking at consumer behavior and corporate activities. These aspects include
indicators discussed below.
In Japan, overall environmental indicators are proposed in the Third Basic Environment Plan
implemented in 2006 by the Ministry of Environment. Because these indicators include theoverall situation of environment and conservation efforts, we consider some of these
indicators can be used to measure environmental sustainability of the country.
Firstly, the plan has the set of indicators that are composed to represent 6 fields of theenvironment including: (1) global warming issues : total emission amount of greenhouseeffect gas (that from households are addressed separately), (2) material cycle; resource
productivity, cyclical use rate, final disposal amount (disposal from households are addressed
separately), (3) air environment; achievement rate of Environmental Quality Standard for air
pollution, annual hours exceed 30 °C in the urban area/A hot night when the temperature does
not fall below 25°C outdoors, (4) water environment: maintenance and achievement status ofEnvironmental Quality Standard of public water and ground water, (5) environmental risks
from chemical substances; emissions of chemical substances which are categorized as
Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) chemicals and established an environmental
standard and reference value, (6) biodiversity; proportion of endangered species to reference
number of species in a vertebrate animal, insects and vascular plants. Currently, the forth
Basic Environment Plan has been discussed and those indicators will be revised. We suggest
including overall indicators focusing on conservation of endangered species and biodiversity,and the calculation of imported virtual water.
In addition, the plan includes ecological footprint, which is an indicator invented anddeveloped in the University of British Colombia for the purpose of capturing how much arehuman‟s life depends on natural environment. The worldwide NPO Global Footprint Network
calculates ecological footprint of the world as “It measures how much land and water area ahuman population requires to produce the resource it consumes and to absorb its carbon
dioxide emissions, using prevailing technology” (NPO Global Footprint Network, 2011). For
the calculation of the ecological footprint, various data is used including the area of arable
land, pasture land, marine land, forest for producing timber and forest for photosynthesis.
44In order to achieve those environmental standards, people have to be reminded to keep
harmonious relations with nature and have to take action such as building environmental
friendly housing or sustainable trade including fair trade.34 Hence, this indicator also looks at
consumer behavior as well as corporate efforts for environmental conservation.
Indicators are summarized in the table below.
field of focus

global warming issues

material cycle

air environment

water environment

indicator

existing dataconsideration

total emission amount ofgreenhouse effect gas

・Greenhouse Gas Inventory Office ofJapan publishes the data on thegreenhouse gas emission.

The calculation and its boundary has been revised
regularly.

・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

resource productivity

・Ministry of Environment

The calculation and its boundary has been revised
regularly.

・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

cyclical use rate

・Ministry of Environment

This is not suitable simple comparison with othercountries because they differ depending on thestages of economic development, industrial
structure, the currency value, and data availability.

・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

final disposal amount・Ministry of Environment

same as above

・National Statistics (various countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

achievement rate of Environmental
Quality Standard for air pollution

・Ministry of Environment

Many standards have already been achieved.

・National Statistics (various countries)

annual hours exceed 30 °C in urban
area/A hot night when the・Ministry of Environment
temperature does not fall below 25° ・Japan Meteorological Agency
C outdoors

The data differs largely depending on the year.

・National Statistics (various countries)

maintenance and achievement status
of Environmental Quality Standard ・Ministry of Environmentof public water

Many standards have already been achieved.

・National Statistics (various countries)

maintenance and achievement status
of Environmental Quality Standard ・Ministry of Environmentof ground water

Many standards have already been achieved.

・National Statistics (various countries)

・Ministry of Environment
・NPO Japan Water Forum

It may be easier to understand to use the ratio
against fresh water rather than amount of imported
virtual water.

・UNEP
・Global Environment Outlook

・the Ministry of Environment

Although there is an international guideline on the・National Statistics (various countries)
PRTR, substances differs from country to country. ・OECD

amount of imported virtual water

emissions of chemical substances
which is categorized as Pollutant
environmental risks from Release and Transfer Registerchemical substances(PRTR) chemicals and established
its environmental standard andreference value

proportion of endangered species
to reference number of species in a・the Ministry of Environment
vertebrate animal, insects andvascular plants.

There are different recognitions on the number
depending on creatures. There are creatures needs
to be depend on qualitative evaluation.

overall indicators focusing onconservation of endangered species noneand biodiversity

There are various indicators proposed such as the
Simpson Index and the Shannon Biodiversity Index,
・Bhutan GNH (asking: if there are any
and there is no indicator firmly established. Alsochanges in plants in the surrounding area)
there are discussions on importance of diversity of
microorganism.

biodiversity

ecological footprint

examples of overseas

The Ministry of Environment is considering own
project for ecological footprint.

ecological footprint

・Ecological footprint Japanenvironmentally friendly housing

・The Survey on Housing and Land (MIC)
There is no standard of environmentally friendly
for solar power generated housing, andhousing.
doubled window

・the International Union for Conservationof Nature・National statistics (various countries)

・WWF publishes the regular report oninternational comparisons of environment.

consumer behavior

Corporate Social
Responsibility

consumption of fair trade products none

NSLP fiscal year 2007 (Cabinet Office) has survey
on the recognition of fair trade

Number of companies publish CSR
nonereport

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
surveyed the situation of the publishing CSR report.

34 For more details about environmental education, see Ministry of Environment (2009).

45・Fair trade Labeling Organizations

4. Conclusion
As stated in the introduction, these proposed indicators of well-being are constructed basedon previous researches carried out in Japan and foreign countries. Also, this report has
utilized preliminary research on the happiness of young people conducted in collaboration
with the ESRI in order to assess the validity of the indicators. Nevertheless, the validity ofsome indicators cannot be assessed due to the lack of overall national data. Hence, somequestions remain: 1) if the indicator is applicable to Japan, 2) if the indicator is applicable to anon- youth such as elderly, 3) if the indicators include duplicated or contrasted questions.
It is essential to collect and study the nationwide panel data which is taken from people
across all generations, to achieve the two goals of creating the indicator. The first goal is to
discover factors affecting individuals‟ well-being, and to identify societal advantages anddisadvantages which may affect the level of well-being. As well as to observe what aspects ofsociety are improving and what aspects of society are deteriorating. The second goal is toprovide the opportunity for people to obtain a deeper understanding of where society isheading for more extensive discussions, and to give individuals some clues on what are thenecessary actions needed to facilitate not only an individuals‟ well-being but also national
well-being. Also, panel data analysis can overcome the problem of duplications andcontradictions among indicators by using micro-data.
Additionally, for the purpose of policy implication based on the subjective indicators ofwell-being, it is necessary to construct a set of panel data to analyze unobserved individual
differences and household differences as well as the individual response to particular policy
and life events.35 The advantage of using panel data is that the data can control the biased
response which some respondents might have because they are aware of the purpose of thedata collection. Therefore, the Cabinet Office is strongly advised to collect panel data on thewell-being of households for the next few years and examine the policy effectiveness of these
proposed well-being indicators. The Commission will actively engage in the construction ofquestionnaires and the analysis of the data.
Well-being is a subjective appraisal of our own lives, hence it reflects individual value. Itmeans that the components would differ between regions in a country with regional diversity.
For instance, EU-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) includes micro-dataof 14,250 households (25,000 individuals) for Germany, 13,250 households (24,250
individuals) for the U.K. and 12,750 households (23,750 individuals) for France. Those data
sets with a large number of respondents allow them to identify and control regional
35 The EU-SILC has panel data of 100,000 households which is over 40% of the total sample of 230,000 household, which
is used to measure well-being.

46

differences. Japan is also a country with regional diversity. Therefore, the data collection has
to include a certain number of respondents representing each region, and the validity
assessment of the proposed well-being indicators needs to take the sample number into
consideration.
In order to be utilized widely, it is well recommended to consider establishing panel data set
not as a national statistic but as publicly accessible data. In reality, one of the reasons why
Western countries are the leading countries for studies on well-being is the wide availability
and usage of the data collected not only by their governments but also by private institutions
and universities. Hence, the availability of data and the methodology of data collection need to
be improved for Japan for it to become a world leader in studies of well-being. Improvements
can be made by providing a data on the internet or collecting the data in collaboration with the
public and the private institutions.
This proposal is only the starting point of the discussion of well-being in Japanese society.
Society that only pursues economic development is definitely different from a society thatstrives to create a happier community. We sincerely hope that this report opens up the spacefor different sectors of the society to come together to discuss issues of well-being for a moreprogressive society.

47

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Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A. and Fitoussi, J., 2009. Report by the Commission on the Measurement of
Economic Performance and Social Progress. Paris: The Government of France.
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52

Annotation: Technical Information on Survey
1. The ESRI Survey of Level of Happiness of Young People (Preliminary survey ofyoung people)
Name of the Survey: Questions about yourself
Methodology: Web based survey
Survey purpose: To capture happiness, employment, family relations(The second round of this survey included the influence of the earthquakeon themselves such as the changes on the perception of life, and theirattitudes to everyday life. The third round added questionnaires about the
influence of the earthquake on family members, health, employment,
overall life.)
Survey period: Survey was conducted for 3 times between late December 2010 and late
May 2011 in different areas.
1st round : Late December 2010
2nd round: Late March 2011
3 rd round: Late May 2011
Surveyed region: 1st round : Nationwide
2nd round: Nationwide except Tohoku region and Ibaraki prefecture
3 rd round: Tohoku region and Ibaraki prefecture
Sample: Male and female aged between 20 and 39
1st round : 20,000 (stratified sampling based on the population)
2nd round: 16,000 (10,744 samples are same individual as the first round)
3 rd round: 1,800 (samples are individuals living same area as ones answered thefirst round survey.
2. The National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences Fiscal Year 2008, 2009, 2010
Name of the Survey: The National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences
Methodology of the Survey: Self completion, paper and pencil are delivered and collected by
the researchers.
Sample: Male and female aged between 15 and 75 (fiscal year 2008)
Male and female aged between 15 and 80 (fiscal year 2009, 2010)
Number of sample: 6,000 individuals (fiscal year 2008), 4,000 individuals (fiscal year 2009),
5,000 (fiscal year 2010) (two-stage sampling method)
Survey period: 18 days (15th January 2009 – 1st February 2009)12 days (11th March 2010-22nd March 2010)
11days (3 rd March 2011-13th March 2011)
Surveyed region: Nationwide
Response rate: 4,480 people (74.7%), 2,900 people (72.5%), 3,578people (71.6%)(fiscal year 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectably)
53

54
×

under the consideration

Other information

48
×

under the discussion○(degree of satisfaction etc.)

Number of indicators
Subjective well-being
Combined indicators intoa single indicator×(under the consideration)○

Australia Institute2002

The Genuine Progress Indicator

Australia

European Commission,
Environment and Eurostat

2007

GDP and beyond

European Commission

National Institute of Statistics andEconomic Studies, Center for
Economic ResearchFrance
The commission on themeasurement of economic
performance et social progress(Stiglitz Commission)
2008

○

30
×

6

publishedindividual, region, economic system,
environment, governance

○

72
○

9

publishedmaterial wealth (income), health,society and environment

×

69
×

17

publishedsociety, economy, environment-

47 (proposal)
being proposed5

ongoingsociety, economy, environment-

being proposed-

ongoing

economy, quality of life, sustainable
development and environment

・The HDI includes 3 dimensions ・They changed their framework in ・It has developed in order to・The index reflects the belief of the ・It makes comparison with 10 years ・They have planned out 5 actions Their main arguments are:(health, education and living
1987, 1995 and 2004.
measure "happiness, peace andex-King who declared that wellago, and discusses what changes a until 2012. Creating well-being
1) Should focus on income andstandard) and 4 indicators (life・To create the set of well-being
sustainable development" , which is being is the objective of theirsociety had since 10 years ago.
indicators are included to the first spending's rather then production
expectancy, mean years ofindicators, they use Social Statistics the main issue addressed in the 10th country's development. They carried Measurements are categorized as: action of 1) to compliment GDP by 2) Should focus on distribution ofschooling, expected years ofSurvey including 30,000 households. Development Plan.
out the pilot tests in 2006 and 2007, main index, supplemental index, and other economic and environmental income, spending and wealthschooling and GNI per capita), and it
and in 2008, they have publicized reference index. The number ofindicators. Other 4 actions are: 2) 3) Should evaluate the inequality ofsets a minimum and a maximum fortheir result for the first time.
index mentioned above is theProviding real time information for quality of life
each domains. They are callednumber which combined main and the decision making. 3) Reporting 4) Measuring subjective andgoalposts, and expressed as a value
supplemental index.
more precise income distribution and objective well-being will give
between 0 and 1. A composite HDI
inequality. 4) Development of score important information to evaluate
index is an average of these 3
board for Europa for its
quality of life, therefore, questions
values. From 2010, the UNDP alsosustainability. 5) Broadening therelated to this these issues should be
publicize IHDI. If a country has thefields to social issues that SNA
included.
perfect equality, the HDI value andcovers.
5) Need to assess suitability of
the IHDI value will be the same.
indicators to measure sustainability
・The UNDP also publishes Human
Poverty Index, Multidimensional
Poverty Index, Gender Development
Index and Gender Empowerment
Index.

487○(degree of satisfaction)13

publishedsociety, economy, environment

4
×3

published

health, education, living standard

Centre for Bhutan Studies

2005

GNH

BhutanTo consider supplemental
To encourage civic participation, and To indicate the goal of the nation,
To improve the indicators to assess information for the evaluation of
To supplement the evaluation for life
to develop a country with high well- and to utilize the indicator for publicsocial progress, wealth, and well- social progress, and to consider the
improvement of people in Australia
being
policybeing
indicators that could substitute GDP
as an indicator

National Economic and Social
Development Board

2007

the Green and Happiness Index

ThailandAppendix1(note) The table above includes only international government organizations' effort and governments' effort, and it does not include the actions being made by non-profit organizations. Also, this does not include every activities related to measuring well-being or social progress due to the limitation of available information.

・Established based on the Istanbul ・Presented in "The road map
Declaration (the World Forum 2007) towards the implementation of the・Being planned to have the World United Nations Millennium
Forum in India in 2012.
Development Goals", which was
declared in September 2001 at the
UN general assembly

8

11

Domains

published

health, education, environment, aidpublishedsociety, economy, environment

To propose social development
public policy

The development of holistic point ofview to understand the societal
Prioritizing the issue to be solved
To measure human development ofprogress including economy,
immediately such as combating aneach country
environment , and society as aextreme poverty by 2015
whole

Current situation

Area of focus

PurposeStatistics Korea, The Korea
Development InstituteUN, Government (various country)

Bangladeshi economist Mahbub ul
HaqOECD, UN

Initiative

Social Indicator

Korea

1975

2007

Year that started

HDI

UNDP

1990

MDGs

Better Life Initiative: Measuring
Well-being and Progress

Name of the Project
2000

UN

OECD

Organization/Country

The Measurement of Well-being -Overseas Efforts-

Appendix1. The Measurements of Well-being - Overseas Effort-

55

Prime Minister's Office, Statistics
Finland

The Netherlands Institute for Social
Research

1974

Life Situation Index

Holland

Office for National Statistics

2010

Measuring National Well-being

the United Kingdom

100
×

×

NA
○

×

being proposed as an option○

・This was originally invented in・Opened for the consultation until
1970s during the movement of social 23rd January, 2012.
indicators development.
・As a subjective indicators, it has
included 6 indicators of social
exclusion since 1997.

×・They present the comparison withother E.U . Countries.

being proposed

-

-

-

×

-

・Budgetary provision (total
・OECD regional forum was held in
US$77,500,000) was declared
May, 2011.
between 2009 and 2018 in the Key
National Indicator System Law.

-

-

-

ongoing

discussion paper was published in
October 2011 for the public
consultation

10 domains

development of the county, living
standard, quality of life, sustainability

economic stock, social progress,
environmental degradation

19
○

8

publishedliving environment (habitats, health,community engagement)

107
×

10

publishedeconomy, innovation, society,environment

Increasing awareness about
OECD's measuring well-being andprogress in the country as well as
introducing scientific point of view
towards well-being measurement.

Mexican Consultative Forum on
Science and Technology

To suggest country's strategies for
its development, and to provide
information to the public.

2009

2003

Measuring Social Progress

MexicoCommission on Key National
Indicator System (established in2008 in accordance to the Key
National Indicator System Law)

Key National Indicator System

the United States

Appendix 1(note) The table above includes only international government organizations' effort and governments' effort, and it does not include the actions being made by non-profit organizations. Also, this does not include every activities
related to measuring well-being or social progress due to the limitation of available information.

・They have updated the Data Book ・ They are only available at webcarried out since 1999 as a report to site. Individual data will be updated
present the social changes.
automatically when the new data
was collected.
・ From the web-site, data isavailable for download as a table,graph and text format.

12(divided by themes)/10(divided bypolicy field)

publishedpublished15

social development

To supply the information about
To understand and to map out the
To show the overall picture of a
To present the overview ofsocial progress, and to suggest
progress of a society, especially to country including some issues which
economics, environment, and social
public policy based on the empiricalsolve societal problems and prevent
economic indicator such as GDP
issues in Ireland
resultsocial loss.
cannot represent

quality of life, social change

To utilize it as a public policy
decision making, and to offer
information to German people.

2003

2007

2008

Federal Statistical Office/German
Social Science Infrastructure
Services and etc.
Central Statistics Office Ireland

Unity Progress Report

Findicator

Social Indicators

IrelandFinlandGermany

The Measurement of Well-being -Overseas Efforts-

Appendix2. Well-being Survey in Overseas
Name of thesurveyEU SILCCountry/
Organization

EU

ESS

SHARE

the Centre for Comparative Social Mannheim Research Institute for theSurveys in City college, London, UK
Economics of Aging, and etc.

NLSY79-CS

GNH Survey

Gallup World Survey

World Values Survey

Korean Social Survey

United States Department of Labor

The Centre for Bhutan Studies

The Gallup Organization

the World Values Survey
Association

Statistics Korea

1977 (every year, 2-year cycle persector)Statistics Korea

Survey year
(frequency)

2004 (every year, cross-section data,
and time-series data have been
published twice)2001 (every 2 years)

2004 (every year)

1986 (every 2 years)

Preliminary Survey in 2007
First Survey in 20102005-2006 (every year)

1981(1981-1984,
1989-1993,
1994-1998,
1999-2004
2005-20082010-2012)

Survey bodyEuro stat

Roger Jowell, and etc.

Mannheim Research Institute for the
Economics of Aging, and etc.

Bureau of Labor Statics

Centre for Bhutan Studies

Gallup Organization

World Values Survey Association

PurposeNumber ofcountries
included in thesurveyNumber ofquestions

SampleTo collect comparative, crossTo design and develop an
sectional, longitudinal and multiacademically-driven social survey in To establish the database of microdimensional data corresponding to order to explain the changes in adata including information on healthsocial needs and issues such associety including interaction between and socio economic situation
income, poverty, social exclusion and institutions and the attitudes, beliefs throughout European countries
living standards.
and behavior patterns in Europe.

27 countries (cross-sectional data),
23 countries (longitudinal data) by2010

More than 30 countries
by 2009

12 countries
by December 2008

To measure household environment,children's cognitive capacity,
behavior, physical ability, social
To establish GNH
skills, problematic behavior and selfperceived usefulness.

1

To question people about their view
on vital importance to the world
To compare people's values
today, on various topics including
throughout the world.
well-being.

1

Over 140countries in total

To provide an essential informationfor establishing public policy, and tounderstand people's view on qualityof life by investigating people's
interest and their opinions.

54 countries1

290 (in 2009)

298 (in 2010)

720 ( in 2004)

130 (in 2006)

249 (in 2010)

97 ( in 2008 for Asia)

101(in 2005)

78 (in 2009)
75 (in 2010)

130,750 households (cross-section),
98,250 households (time-series),
272,900 individuals (cross-section),
203,850 individuals (time-series) (in2005, 2006)

no data available

18,741individuals(by December 2008)

11,466 individuals(in 2006)

no data available

1,000 individuals (Japan), 155,093
individuals (worldwide)(in 2010)

1,000 individuals (Japan), 77,000
individuals (worldwide)(2005-2008)

no data available

・household structure and family
members・annual schedule・the months that they are active
・occupation and work place・media・education
・politics
・health・subjective well-being
・child attendance for nursing school ・social exclusion
Main fields of and schools
・religion
questions・child healthcare, basic needs,
・discrimination
recreation
・trust towards police or court
・income・information related to social・household income and lending
demography
between family members
・work, family and well-being
・rent and housing
・housing and neighborhood
environment/material deprivation
・debt and financial problem

・information related to social
demography
・physical health・risky behavior
・cognitive function
・psychological health・healthcare
・employment and pension
・grasping power
・walking speed
・children・social support
・financial transfer
・housing・household income
・consumption・assets・health of children
・schooling・family background and school
environment
・family・parents
・school and ability
・employment
・religion・friends
・smoking and drinking
・relationships
・sexual education
・information literacy
・volunteer

56・psychological well-being
・time use and balance
・cultural diversity and resilience
・community vitality
・ecological diversity and resilience・good governance・health・education
・living standard

・occupation and economy
・civic engagement
・community and technology
・education and family
・environment and energy
・food and shelter・autonomy and politics
・health・law and order・religion and moral
・social issues
・well-being
・work

・subjective happiness・self-rated health・life satisfaction
・value・culture and recreation・social welfare
・income and consumption・job・social engagement
・health・education
・safety・family・environment

Well-Being

57

safety of the community (people can walkalone at night)

9

the effective ratio of job offers to applicants【O】

anxiety towards karoushi

participation rate of male partners for parenting

the number of children on the waiting list for
nursing school or kindergarten 【O】

5

the number of bedridden elderly 【O】

5

9subjective evaluation of own healthmaternal mortality rate【O】

reported cases of domestic violence【O】

7

the number of single households 【O】

closeness to family and friends

7bonding with community

the number of elderly living alone withoutfamily staying nearby 【O】

the number of children and youth who feels
isolatedsatisfaction on family life

8

13

frequency of participation in activities of NPO,
NGO, and sports group and hobby group 【O】

community security (neighborhood effect)

places for recreation【O】

feelings of alienation

rate of hikikomori 【O】

altruism (blood donation, giving) 【O】

share of people who want to continue to live inthe current place

degree of internet-based community formation【O】

community engagement

the existence of the person who can be totallyintergenerational communication in thetrusted and who would give some help in thecommunity 【O】
time of crisis 【O】

number of people who think it is natural tohelp people in trouble

general trust

self-perceived usefulness in the society

Relatedness

Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) the number of household living far from family【O】
members 【O】

actual utilization of paid leave【O】

time management of children 【O】

openness towards foreign cultures

number of people who wish to work for publicfeeling of isolation
wealthsatisfaction with time allocation

length of free time 【O】

family ties

evacuation rate in disasters 【O】

degree of understandings of environment
issuesdegree of recognition towards local tradition(whether people heard and understands old
sayings)

degree of understandings of local nature andculturedegree of reverence for nature

closeness to nature

total number of indicators

132

16

15

number of patients with depression

satisfaction towards external support for
nursing

degree of exhaustion of family members withpatients

satisfaction towards medical services

average life expectancy at birth (age)【O】

lifestyle(1) global warming issues : total emission amount of greenhouse effect gas (that from households are addressed separately), (2) material cycle; resource productivity, cyclical use rate, final disposal amount (disposal from households are addressed separately), (3) air environment; achievement rate of Environmental Quality Standard for air pollution, annual hours exceed 30 °C in the urban area/A hot night when the temperature does not fall below 25°C outdoors, (4) water environment: maintenance and achievement status of Environmental Quality Standard of public water
number of indicatorsand ground water, (5) environmental risks from chemical substances; emissions of chemical substances which are categorized as Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) chemicals and established an environmental standard and reference value, (6) biodiversity; proportion of endangered species to reference number of species in a vertebrate animal, insects and vascular plants, (7) ecological footprint, (8) consumer behavior (9) Corporate Social Responsibility

13

number of the unemployed who strongly
desired to work (particularly women who
cannot work due to household tasks) 【O】

the rate of people who have childcare leave【O】

social participation rate (especially under 80
years old)【O】

the number of long-term unemployed 【O】

satisfaction towards parenting support

the number of youth who cannot study at highthe ratio of the employed suffers (or suffered)school or university due to economic reasons
from harassment 【O】【O】

job satisfaction (reward)

satisfaction of parenting

high school dropout rate (the rate of people
whose educational attainment is below highschool) 【O】

reported cases of bullying 【O】

the number of young people who hope tobecome an entrepreneur 【O】

number of children with development
disabilities (attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorder) 【O】

number of child protection institutions withcounselors 【O】

reported cases of child abuse【O】

satisfaction towards counselingindicator of capability of the elderly to conduct
occurrence rate of dementia 【O】
Activity of Daily Living (ADL)

rate of child sickness 【O】

youth unemployment rate 【O】

child satisfaction on school environment

experiences during the childhood whether they
had close communication with parents or not. the number of young entrepreneurs 【O】【O】

child mortality rate (new born child mortality
and infant mortality) 【O】

voters‟ turnout rate 【O】

the recognition of the system of publiccomments 【O】

suicidal ideation

degree of stressthe number of suicides 【O】

physical and psychological health6110number of children who has no adultsupervision after school 【O】

the number of research related workers 【O】

Healthpsychological healthnumber of indicators

5 number of indicators

14

anxiety for the life expenses in their later life

ratio of people who fear lonely deathlonely death rate 【O】

suicide rate 【O】

bankruptcy rate【O】

child poverty rate 【O】

subjective evaluation towards material wealth ( indicator of near-by surroundings (whether
the rate of households who think having
there are parks, hospitals, and commercial
difficulties in financing) 【O】
centers) 【O】

consumer fraud

proportion of households that are unable to pay environmental degradation in the surrounding
for rents, mortgages or public utility bills 【O】 areas (water pollution and air pollution)

the number of the non-registered in thenational pension scheme and health insurance【O】

the number of companies with female workers
the recognition of public security
administrative position 【O】

the number of jobless households(the number of unemployed children) 【O】

the rate of patients with long-term illnesses【O】

physical healththe number of the NEET 【O】

indicator of deprived housing （density, noise,sunlight, etc.)

food safety

social system

the rate of undesired contractual workers 【O】 trust of the social system (government)

employment

Proposed Well-being Indicators

attainment of life skills 【O】

degree of satisfaction for own habitation

relative poverty gap 【O】

cleanness of the community

regional disparities of gynecologist andobstetrician 【O】

relative poverty rate 【O】

educational attainment 【O】

the number of households feel the rent or
mortgage is too muchparenting/educationsocio-economic conditions

material deprivation rate (people who havemore than 3 yes out of 9) 【O】

housing

poverty rate (under the minimum income line)
the number of homeless people 【O】【O】【O】means objective indicator, and the rest are subjective indicators.

sustainability

number ofindicatorselderlyadultchildren/youth

individual/households/community

factors

basic needs

Number of indicators are 6, but current level of subjective happiness, ideal level of happiness and expected level of happiness in the future are measured by only one question. Relativeness and affective experience are measured by multiple questions.

number ofindicators

domains

current level of subjective happiness, ideal level of happiness, expected level of happiness in the future, relativeness, affective experience, happiness gap within the household

subjective wellbeing

Appendix 3. Proposed Well-being Indicators

Appendix 4. Details of Indicators
domainfactors

targetindicator

existing data

category

types ofindicator

survey methodology

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of household
・Gallup World Poll (asking:composition, household income,
expected life satisfaction in 5 years) educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

consideration

examples of overseas

There is a need to consider the phrasing of the question. Lifesatisfaction, and escalated indicator of satisfaction might be ・ESS
useful to compliment this indicator.

individual

all agegroup

current level of subjective
happiness

・NSLP (Cabinet Office)individual

all agegroup

ideal level of happiness・Preliminary survey of young people

individual

all agegroup

・Preliminary survey of young people (asking:expected level of happinessexpected level of happiness in the next year
in the future
and the time they will die)

individual

all agegroup

relativeness・Preliminary survey of young people (using
Interdependent Happiness Scale）

individual

all agegroupaffective experience・Preliminary survey of young people (samequestionnaire as the Gallup World Poll)

It is better to employ the method of Bhutan, and include
typical Japanese emotion such as embarrassment and guilt.

・Gallup World Poll・Bhutan GNH

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

householdall agegroup

happiness gap within thehouseholdnone

It will be necessary to have data for whole household.

・ESSage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

self reportindividual

all agegroup

poverty rate (under theminimum income line)

・The National Institute of Population andSocial Security Research (Japan) has beendeveloping the indicator.

Howto set the absolute poverty line. How do we consider
assets.

・OECD
・EU-SILC・NIBUD・FaHCSIA

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

all agegroup

material deprivation rate
(people who have morethan 3 yes out of 9)・Preliminary survey of young people

Whether Japan should use the same indicator as Europe.
The European Commission suggests adding 4 moreindicators on the current indicator.

・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

all agegroup

relative poverty gap

・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People (Ministry of Health, Labor and The rate has not been published.
Welfare)・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self report・Euro barometer 2005, 2010
(comparing with economic crisis,
pollution, crime, traffic accident,
and health)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

There is a question of how to define "future(How many
years later will be future happiness?)".

Subjective
well-being

Socioeconomic
conditionindividual

all agegroup

food safety

・Food Safety Monitoring Survey (128monitors: the relative anxiety towards safetyof food in comparison to other safety issues
such as natural disaster, environment, crime
and traffic accident) (Commission on Food
Safety)・Monitoring Survey on Living Condition of
the People( 1,810 monitors: there are 7questions related to the issue of food safety)(Cabinet Office)householdall agegroup

relative poverty rate

・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People (Ministry of Health, Labor and
How to calculate equivalent disposal income overWelfare)generation.
・Survey on the Situation of Consumption
(MIC)

・OECD
・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reporthouseholdall agegroup

proportion of households
that are unable to pay forrents, mortgages or public
utility bills

・Preliminary survey of young people

・EU-SILC (asking: how frequent
they could not pay for the rent in the age, sex, types of household
past year/ if they had experience of composition, household income,not being able to pay for the public educational attainment, living area,
bills/ if they had times not being
and etc.
able to pay for the loan.)

objective

self reportcommunity/societyall agegroup

consumer fraud (1. the・White Paper on the Life of the Nation Fiscal
amount of consumer fraud, Year 2008 (Cabinet Office)
2. reported cases of illegal ・The number of reported offences related toactivates againstcommercial activities (National Police
It requires large survey.
commercial law, 3. theAgency)number of consumer affairs ・Annual Report on Consumer Affairs
consultation)(National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan)

・the U.K. Office of Fair Trading
・Netherland Consumer Protection
Agencyage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, and etc.

objective

self reportcommunity/societyall agegroup

subjective evaluation
towards material wealth (the rate of households who ・Preliminary survey of young people
think having difficulties infinancing)・OECD
・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

childrenchild poverty rate

・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare)・OECD
・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

adultbankruptcy rate (permillion)・The Supreme Court has statistics on civil
proceedings and administration, which offers
bankruptcy rate.

age, sex, types of household
・None, but the Eurostat iscomposition, household income,considering the index to understandeducational attainment, living area,
the situation of debt.
and etc.

objective

objective

individual

elderlysuicide rate

・The Cabinet Office publishes the estimatednumbersage, sex, types of householdcomposition, and etc.

objective

objective

individual

elderly

lonely death rate

The definition is not clear. As a statistics, there is only the・The statistics of lonely death over 65 years of number of people who died from hunger, illness, suicide
age has been published by the Tokyo Medical and murder, and no one knows who he/she is. Nissei
none
Examiner's Office.
Research Institute estimates the number of people who facelonely death amount to 15,000 per year.

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, and etc.

objective

objective

individual

elderlyratio of people who fearlonely death・Survey on the Social Life of the Elderly
Fiscal Year 2009 (Cabinet Office)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, and etc.

subjective

subjective

individual

elderlyanxiety for the life expenses ・Survey on Social Security Fiscal Year 2007
in their later life
(Japan Institute of Life Insurance)

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, and etc.

subjective

subjective

Basic needs

This is the one-shot survey.

How do we define public bills.

It cannot differentiate people based on age, sex, types ofhouseholds, and household income.

・The Report by NCEA (1998)

It is only one-shot survey. It may be needed to ask other age
nonegroup. (The preliminary survey only included young people)

There is no official government survey on this issue.

58

・SHARE (asking: how often they
feel the future will be great/ if they
have hope in the future).

domainfactors

Housing

Socioeconomic
condition

targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

・National Survey on the Actual Conditions of
The definition of "homeless " in Japan is different fromthe Homeless (Ministry of Health, Labor andother countries.
Welfare)category

types ofindicator

survey methodology・OECD・EC (2007)

age, sex, job history, educational
attainment, living area

objective

objective

examples of overseas

individual

all agegroup

the number of homelesspeoplehouseholdall agegroup

the number of households
feel the rent or mortgage is ・Preliminary survey of young people
too much

・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

householdall agegroup

degree of satisfaction forown habitation

・Preliminary survey of young people

・Gallup World Pollage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

householdall agegroup

indicator of deprived
housing （density, noise,sunlight, etc.)

・Statistics on Housing and Land (density, andsanitation ) (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Statistics on Housing and Land has been conducted only
Communications, Statistical Bureau)
every 5 years. How do we set the standard of "the sufficient ・EU-SILC
・Preliminary survey of young people (noises space".
and lightning)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

community/societyall agegroup

cleanness of the community ・Preliminary survey of young people

・EU-SILC

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

community/societyall agegroup

environmental degradationin the surrounding areas
・Preliminary survey of young people(water pollution and air
pollution)・Social Survey (South Korean
Government Statistic Bureau)
・Gallup World Pollage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportage, sex, household income, parents'profession, living area, and etc.

objective

self reportage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,living area, and etc.

objective

self reportprovinces, medical devisionobjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

objective

・Social Survey 2009 (South
Korean Government Statistic
Bureau) (asking: if they are satisfied
age, sex, types of householdwith school environment including
composition, household income,lecture, teaching, relations witheducational attainment, living area,
students, relations with teachers,
and etc.
school infrastructure, surrounding
environment, awarded degree, andliving overall)

subjective

subjective

It needs to include anxiety for radiation level.

community/societyall agegroup

safety of the community(people can walk alone atnight)

・Preliminary survey of young people

・Social Survey (South Korean
Government Statistic Bureau)(asking: if there are places they feel age, sex, types of household
unsafe to walk at night/ what they composition, household income,do to for the danger)
educational attainment, living area,
・Gallup World Poll (asking: if they and etc.
feel safe to walk around theirneighborhood at night)

community/societyall agegroup

indicator of near-by
surroundings (whether
there are parks, hospitals,
and commercial centers)

・Preliminary survey of young people

・EQLS (asking about afforestation)individual

number of children who haschildren no adult supervision after noneschoolindividual

all agegroup

educational attainment

・Population Census

community/societyall agegroup

regional disparities ofgynecologist andobstetrician

・Statistics on Doctors, Dentists, andPharmacists (every each year)(Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)individual

attainment of life skills(communication skills,
children being able to help people in ・Preliminary survey of young people
trouble, being able to ask
for help, and etc.)

individual

・For school life in general, the Survey on
Japanese Youth In Comparison with the Youthof the World (Cabinet Office). The most
The Youth of the World are carried out only every 5 years.
child satisfaction on school recent survey was carried out in the fiscal year
children
The National Survey on Lifestyle Preferences had included
environment
2008)
the question related to this indicator only once.
・For education in general, quality of teachers,
curriculum, and infrastructure of education,
NSLP (Cabinet Office)Parenting and
Education

This can be different depending on the level of compulsory
・OECD
education. Also, there are gaps between generations. (If the・National Statistics (various
region has more old age population, that region are likely tocountries)
have a lower level of education.)・OECD PISA
The questions should include "Is it easy for you to・OECD Cognitive/Non-cognitive
communicate with the others?", and "Can you ask for help
skill study
when you are in trouble?"
・NLSY-CS1997

59

domainfactors

targetindicator

existing data

individual

childrenexperiences during thechildhood weather they had
close communication with ・Preliminary survey of young people (it has
parents or not (whether
not surveyed on children)
parents read bed time storyetc.)

individual

childrenreported cases of bullying

childrenhigh school dropout rate(the rate of people whose
educational attainment isbelow high school)

individual

・Survey on Education towards ProblematicStudents (Ministry of Education)

・no exact data available

consideration

Tachibanaki Survey

examples of overseas

・NLSY-CS1997

Grasping the number of of bullying is difficult, because it isoften hidden.

Based on the Survey on Education towards ProblematicStudents (the Ministry of Education), it is possible to・Eurostat (Population of the nonunderstand the rate of the dropouts among ones who haveeducated, primary or middle school
enrolled to the high school. But the rate of people whose
graduates between 25 and 64 years
educational attainment is below high school cannot be
old is calculated from the Labor
obtained. Although the MIC has the Survey on Labor Force,
Force Survey)
this survey does not separate primary graduate, middle

category

types ofindicator

survey methodology

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportprimary School, middle school

objective

self reportage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportschool graduate and high shcool graduate.

Parenting and
Educationindividual

adultsatisfaction of parenting

・Preliminary survey of young people
・NSLP Fiscal Year 2009 (Cabinet Office)(asking about childbearing environment)

There are surveys conduced by private institutions to beconsidered for its usage.

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

individual

adult

participation rate of malepartners for parenting

none

There are surveys conduced by private institutions to beconsidered for its usage. (For instance the male satisfactionof parenting.)

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

householdadult

the number of children on
the waiting list for nursing
school or kindergarten

・The number of children on the waiting list
The number of children on the waiting list for kinder garden
for nursing school is available by the Ministry
is not available.
of Health, Labor and Welfare.

age of children, sex, types ofhousehold composition, householdincome, educational attainment,
living area, and etc.

objective

self reporthouseholdadult

the number of young people
who cannot study at high・Preliminary survey of young people
school or university due toeconomic reasonsage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportcommunity/soci
ety

adult

satisfaction towards
parenting support

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

individualadult・Basic Survey of Gender Equality inthe rate of people who haveThis rate of existing survey does not include women who
Employment Management (Ministry of Health,childcare leave
retired before giving birth, yet they should be included.
Labor and Welfare)objective

objective

individual

all age groupage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reporthouseholdall age groupage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportcommunity/societyobjective

objective

objective

objective

objective

objective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self report

This existing data cannot identify the age of entrepreneurs.

age, sex, educational attainment,
living area, and etc.

both
subjective/ob
jectivesubjective/objective

The survey carried out by the MIC asks if they have thought
about starting up bisoness, but the question should ask
quality aspects.

age, sex, educational attainment,
living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

objective

objective

objective

objective

the rate of undesired
contractual workers

It needs to consider if this is to ask parents or the children

・Social Survey 2009 (South
Korean Government Statistic
Bureau) (asking if they could
obtained the degree they havedeserved)

・NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office)（asking: the convenience of using the support
including the distance, available hours, andcost, as well as quality of staff, and quality offacilities.)

・General Survey on Diversified Types of
Employment 2010, 2007, 2003, 1999, 1994
(Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)・OECD Family Database

How do we define "undesired contractual workers".

Socio-economic
condition

Employment

the number of joblesshouseholds

・Preliminary survey of young people

all age groupthe number of companies
with female workers
administrative position

・Basic Survey on Management of Female
Employment (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare)community/society

all age groupthe number of research
related workers

・Survey Report on Science and Technology
Research (MIC, Statistical Bureau )individual

youth

the number of the NEET・White Paper on Labor Economy (Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)individual

youth

youth unemployment rate

・Survey on Labor Force (MIC, Statistics
Bureau)individual

youth

the number of young
entrepreneurs

・Survey on Business and Companies (MIC,
Statistics Bureau)
・Annual Statistics of National Tax Agency(National Tax Agency)
・Statistical Yearbook of Civil Rights,
Litigation, and Human Rights (Ministry ofLaw)

individual

youth

the number of young people・Basic Survey on the Employment (MIC,
who hope to become an
Statistics Bureau)
entrepreneur

individual

adult

job satisfaction (reward)

・ NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office)・ Preliminary survey of young people

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・WHO Mortality Databaseindividual

adultthe effective ratio of job
offers to applicants

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has thedata of the situation of job openings.

・National Statistics (various
countries)

individual

adultanxiety towards karoushi

・Preliminary survey of young people

・EU-SILC

There is no data available after 2007.

・MSTI

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・OECD

There is the data of number of recognized case of
Karoushi , this can be used as an objective indicator.

60

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,
employment history, educational
attainment, living area, and etc.

domainfactors

targetindicator

types ofindicator

survey methodology

age, sex, professions, and etc.

objective

objective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

objective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportage, sex, types of household
・Gallup World Poll (asking: thecomposition, household income,
It is sufficient to measure the trust towards the government. trust towards national police,
educational attainment, living area,supreme court, and medical system)and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self report

Surveys are not consistent. (The survey in 2007 is the mostrecent).

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

category

individual

adult

the ratio of the employedsuffers (or suffered) fromharassment

・Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has
the data on the situation of the Equal
The survey does not include the past experiences. Also it
Employment Opportunity Law, which includes
does not include other types of harassments.
the data on number of cases of reported sexual
harassment.

individual

adult

the number of long-term
unemployed・Survey on Labor Force (MIC, Statistical
Bureau)individual

adultnumber of the unemployed・Annual Population and Social Security
who strongly desired toSurveys (Ministry of Health, Labor andwork (particularly women
Welfare) for employment rate after giving thewho cannot work due tobirth for first child.
household tasks)

individual

elderlysocial participation rate
(especially under 80 years
old)・Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC, Statistical
Bureau) for volunteer participation rate.
The indicator should include "job" in the social
・NSLP (Cabinet Office) for the participation
participation rate because there are people who work afteras volunteers, the filed to be participated, thethe retirement.
number of times/hours participated, thereasons for participation.

individual

all agegroup

trust of the social systemnone

individual

all agegroup

the number of the nonregistered in the national ・Preliminary survey of young people
pension scheme and health ・Commission of Social Security
insurance

individual

all agegroup

the recognition of public
security

individual

all agegroup

the recognition of the・NSLP fiscal year 2007(Cabinet Office)system of public comments

The survey is done only once.

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportcommunity/societyall agegroup

voters‟ turnout rate

・MIC has the record.

・National Statistics (various
The election could include not only the general election but
countries)
also other elections.
・OECDage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

objective/self reportindividual

all agegroup

the rate of patients withlong-term illnessesnone

It needs to define the length of "long-term", and it mightneed to take into the seriousness of the illness into
consideration.

・EU-SILC (asking: if they havebeen suffering from illness over 6
months including seasonal illness,and how severe it is)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

childrenchild mortality rate (newborn child mortality andinfant mortality)

・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare)

It needs to separate mortality rate of new born babies andinfants because of its large differences.

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・WHO Mortality Databaseage, reasons for deathobjective

objective

individual

childrenrate of child sickness

・Survey on School Health (Ministry of
Education)
・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People(Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare) for hospital outpatients visits

・A Picture of Australia's children(the Government of Australia)

school grade

objective

objective

individual

elderly

Activity of Daily Living(ADL)

・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People(the Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare)・Hitotsubashi RIETI JSTAR

・SHAREage, sex, types of householdcomposition, living area, and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

elderly

the number of bedridden
elderly・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People(Ministry of Health, Labor and It is only conducted every 3 years.
Welfare)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, living area, and etc.

objective

self report

The survey defines one year as a long-term. It is necessary to ・National Statistics (various
evaluate if this definition is applicable to measure wellcountries)
being.
・OECD

Employment

Socioeconomic
condition

Social system

HealthPhysical health・Public Poll on Public Security (Cabinet
Office)61

factors

targetindividual

individual

indicator

all age group

all age groupcategory

types ofindicator

survey methodology

age, sex, profession,educational
attainment,living area,reasons for
suicide, and etc.

objective

objective

・Bhutan GNH (asking: how
stressful their life was in the past
year/what are the factors, and how
The NSLP includes related questions only in the fiscal year
age, sex, types of householdoften they had feeling of frustration2007 and 2008. The Vital Statistics is conducted only every
composition, household income,or peace last week)
3 years. Additionally, they do not ask about the degree of
educational attainment, employment
・Social Survey 2010 (Souththe stresses.
history, living area, and etc.
Korean Government, Statistical
Bureau) (asking:how stressful last 2
weeks have been)

subjective

subjective

・Social Statistics 2010 (the South
Korean Government, Statistical
Bureau）(asking: if they had attempt age, sex, types of householdto commit suicide within the pastcomposition, household income,year and its reason)
educational attainment, employment
・SHARE (asking: if they havehistory, living area, and etc.
thought to kill themselves lastmonth)

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

objective

objective

objective

objective

sex, age, and etc.

objective

objective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

self reportage, sex

objective

objective

objective

objective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

objective

objective

objective

objective

subjective

subjective

existing data

the number of suicides

・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare), National Policy Agency has thedata of suicide.

degree of stress

・NSLP fiscal year 2007 and 2008 (Cabinet
Office)・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare) asks if the respondents havestress and worries

consideration

examples of overseas

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・WHO Mortality Databaseindividual

all age groupsuicidal ideation

・Preliminary survey of young people

community/society

all age groupsatisfaction towards
counselingnone

individual

childrenreported cases of childabuse・Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has
the data on the situation of child counseling in
the municipal.

community/societychildrennumber of child protection ・Survey of Social Welfare Institution (theinstitutions with counselors Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)individual

childrennumber of children with
development disabilities(attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder）

・In 2002, Ministry of Education conducted anation-wide survey.

individual

adultnumber of patients withdepression

・Preliminary survey of young people (SDS,
CES-D）

individual

elderlyoccurrence rate of dementia

・Patient Survey (every 3 years) (Ministry of
Health, Labor and Welfare)

The number of recognized long-term care patients who
receive insurance can be used as alternate indicator.

individual

all age groupaverage life expectancy atbirth (age)・Life Tables (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare)Life expectancy at current age can be substitute to thisindicator.

community/society

all age groupsatisfaction towards
medical services

・NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office) for
satisfaction for: medical services in general,
distance to hospital, waiting hours in thehospital, cost, and medical standard.

community/society

all age groupdegree of exhaustion offamily members withpatients

none

Physical health andcommunity/sociPsychologicalety
healthall age groupsatisfaction towards
none
external support for nursing

The number of hospitals are found in the Survey of Medical
Institutions (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare).

Psychologicalhealth・Child Protection Australia(Australian government) (including
the number of cases reported, andregion, age, reasons of abuse, etc
the number of case successfully
managed)・HHS (the U.S.) have been
Is it really appropriate to use the number of children with
conducted every 4 years.
development disorders? If children have not been examined, ・British Survey of Child and
it is impossible to assess the reality.
Adolescent Mental Health (Kings
College)・EC proposes as one of theindicators

・National Statistics (various
countries)

・Social Survey 2010 (South
Korean Government) (asking: themedical services people have usedwith in a year, and its degree ofsatisfaction)

For the nursing, it is possible to assess the number ofhouseholds with long-term care patients, and stress andworries of care givers from health record in the Vital
Statistics (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare).

individual

adultreported cases of domestic
・National Police Agency
violence

individual

adultmaternal mortality rate

・Vital Statistics (Ministry of Health, Laborand Welfare)individual

elderlysubjective evaluation ofown health・Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditionsof the People (Ministry of Health, Labor and The survey is only conducted every 3 years.
Welfare)62

・EU-SILC
・Social Survey 2010 (South
Korean Government)

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, living area, and etc.

domainfactors

Lifestyletargetindicator

existing dataconsideration

examples of overseas

individual

all agegroup

length of free time・Basic Survey on Social Life (Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications,
Statistical Bureau)

The survey is only conducted every 5 years.

individual

all agegroup

satisfaction with time
allocation

none

NSLP fiscal year 2009 (Cabinet Office) includes questions
related to time allocation (asking: if they allocate their time
both to the work and the private life/if they have sufficient ・EQLS
time to spend with family/if they have sufficient time forfriends/if they have enough time to be alone).

individual

all agegroup

number of people whowish to work for public
wealth・Preliminary survey of young people

society

all agegroup

openness towards foreignculturesnone

types ofindicator

survey methodology

objective

self reportsubjective

subjective

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,subjective
educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

category・National Statistics of Time Use
Survey (various countries)

・The Thai government and the EC
have a measurement of civil power
Japan has signed on the UNESCO Universal Declaration on(asking if they should prevent
Cultural Diversity
outside influence to protect own
culture)age, sex, school

individual

childrentime management ofchildren・Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC, Statistical
Bureau)・National Statistics of Time Use
Survey (various countries)

objective

self reportindividual

adultactual utilization of paid
leave

The existing data only show an average utilization of paid
・General Survey on Working Conditions (theleave. It might be better to assess how many percent of
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)people can utilize their paid leave for how many times.

・Employee Benefits Survey(SHRM）. Newspoll (Australianorganization） research on thisissue.

objective

objective

individual

elderly

Instrumental Activity of
Daily Living (IADL)・Hitotsubashi RIETI JSTAR

・SHARE

objective

self reportindividual

all agegroup

closeness to family andfriends

・Preliminary survey of young people

・Social Survey 2010 (Southage, sex, types of household
Korean Government, Statistic
composition, household income,Bureau) (asking: how often theysubjective
educational attainment, employment
meet up with their parents or talk on
history, living area, and etc.
the phone)subjective

individual

all agegroup

the number of single
households

・Population Census

・Census (various countries)

individual

all agegroup

feeling of isolationindividual

all agegroup

・Preliminary survey of young people
the existence of the person
・The National Institute of Population andwho can be totally trusted
Social Security Research established theand who would give somecommission of the comprehensive survey on
help in the time of crisis
social life.

householdall agegroup

satisfaction on family life

individual

childrenthe number of children andnone
youth who feels isolated

individual

elderly

the number of elderly living
alone without familynone
staying nearby

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

objective

householdadult

the number of householdliving far from family
membersage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

self report

Relatedness

Family ties

none

・Preliminary survey of young people

63

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

objective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,subjective
educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

・Social Survey 2010 (South
Korean Government, Statistic
Bureau) (asking: how many people
would help them when they are introuble such as having flu, having
trouble with money, feelingdepressed, and etc).
・EU SILC 2009 (asking: if they
have anyone who would help themwhen they are in trouble)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

self report

・Social Survey 2010 (South
Korean Government, Statistic
Bureau) (asking: the degree ofsatisfaction on family life, partner,children, parents, step parents,
brothers, and step brothers)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,subjective
educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

・OECD PISA

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,parents' occupations, living area,and etc.

・Preliminary survey of young people (UCLA
loneliness indicator)
It may contain too many questions.
・NSLP fiscal year 2010 (the Cabinet Office)

It should ask both "if they have someone who would help
them in the time of need" and "if they have someone who
gives unconditional love".

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

domainfactors

Bonding with
community

targetindicator

existing dataconsideration

category

types ofindicator

survey methodology

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of household
・Gallup World Survey (asking: if
composition, household income,they helped strangers who are facing
educational attainment, employment
problems)
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

self reportage, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

・Gallup World Poll (asking: If theyage, sex, types of household
will recommend their community orcomposition, household income,your town to your friends to live
educational attainment, living area,
in/if they are planning to move out
and etc.
from the community)

subjective

subjective

objective

self reportexamples of overseas

There are surveys conducted by the private institutions suchas the Homeless Survey in Kita Kyushu. Also, there areresearches in the filed of development psychology.

individual

all agegroup

self-perceived usefulness innone
the society

individual

all agegroup

general trust・Preliminary survey of young people

individual

all agegroup

number of people who
think it is natural to help
people in troublenone

individual

all agegroup

intergenerational
communication in thecommunity

・The Cabinet Office conducts the Opinion
Survey on the Community Participation ofElderly every 5 years, which includes thequestion of intergenerational communication

householdall agegroup

community engagement

・Preliminary survey of young people

society

all agegroup

degree of internet-based
community formation

・Trend Survey on Usage of Information
Technology (MIC) for the number of private
HP and blogs, and participation in Social
Network Service

It needs to consider if the participation rate is appropriate
indicator.

community/societyall agegroup

share of people who wantto continue to live in thecurrent place

none

There are some surveys carried out by municipality such as
Kanuma city (Tochigi), Hino city (Tokyo), Chigasaki city
(Kanagawa), Katano city (Osaka), Kumatori-cho (Osaka),Anan city (Fukushima) etc.).

individual

all agegroup

altruism (blood donation,
giving)individual

childrenrate of hikikomori

・The Survey on Hikikomori (the Cabinet
Office)It is done only once.

objective

self reportindividual

childrenfeelings of alienation

none

NEET and hikikomori can be used for children as well.

subjective

subjective

individual

childrenplaces for recreationnone

It needs to consider if the indicators can be exactly same as
the U.S., or it should include other aspects such as thecommunication with other children.

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

childrencommunity security(neighborhood effect)・Preliminary survey of young people (crimeand violence in the community)

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

subjective

individual

adultfrequency of participation ・NSLP fiscal year 2009 and 2010 (Cabinet
in activities of NPO, NGO, Office)and sports group and hobby ・Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC, Statistic
group
Bureau)・Social Survey 2009 (SouthThe Basic Survey on Social Life (MIC, Statistic Bureau) in Korean Bureau of Statistics )only conducted every 5 years. The NSLP (Cabinet Office)(asking: number of times, andhas relevant indicator only fiscal year 2009 and 2010, and it length of hours people participateddoes not include activities of hobbies and supports. Also,in volunteer activities for the past
the rate of participation is the rate of people participated in year)
those activities more than once a month. This may not be・Gallup World Poll (asking:sufficient time of participation to measure relatedness.
whether they have used their timefor volunteering in the past month)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

objective

self reportindividual

all agegroup

degree of reverence fornatureSome investigation have been conducted during theenvironment education. (Do you think nature is very
important?, Do you think nature is powerful?, Do you havefear against nature?, Do you feel you are alive thanks tonature?, Do you some time think your life is led by somepowerful energy?, Do you feel you are secured by nature?,
Do you thank to nature?)age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

individual

all agegroup

degree of understandings of
none
local nature and culture

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

individual

all agegroup

degree of recognition
towards local tradition(whether people heard andunderstands old sayings)

none

It is very important during the natural disaster. Old saying
includes the knowledge to save themselves from natural
disasters such as tsunami or earthquakes.

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment, employment
history, living area, and etc.

subjective

subjective

individual

all agegroup

degree of understandings ofnone
environment issues

The Chamber of Commerce introduced the exam for thecertificate of environment

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment,living area,and etc.

subjective

subjective

community/societyall agegroup

evacuation rate in disasters municipality

age, sex, types of householdcomposition, household income,educational attainment,living area,and etc.

subjective

self report

It needs to consider whether to use general trust or trust to
the neighbors.

・Bhutan GNH (asking: how muchthey trust the people of Bhutan)

・Bhutan GNH (asking: howstrongly do you feel you belong to
the community/if the community
treat you equally/ if you haveworked for the community in thepast 12 months).

age, sex, household income,educational attainment, and etc.

Relatedness

Closeness to naturenone・National Survey of Children's
Health (Department of Health andHuman Services, the U.S.)

・Bhutan the National Gross
Happiness (asking: to name one of
the most important festival in yourcommunity/ to name plants andanimals living in the community)

64

・ World Economic Forum, theEnvironmental Sustainability Index
・Gallup World Poll (asking: howmuch do you understand global
warming/how serious global
environment is for you and yourfamily, and etc.)

domaintypes ofindicator

survey methodology

objective

objective

objective

objective

main material recycle rate

objective

objective

except disposal from househod

objective

objective

・National Statistics (various
countries)

objective

objective

The data differs largely depending on the year.

・National Statistics (various
countries)

objective

objective

・Ministry of Environment

Many standards have already been achieved.

・National Statistics (various
countries)

objective

objective

・Ministry of Environment

Many standards have already been achieved.

・National Statistics (various
countries)

objective

objective

amount of imported virtual ・Ministry of Environment
water・NPO Japan Water Forum

It may be easier to understand to use the ratio against fresh
water rather than amount of imported virtual water.

・UNEP
・Global Environment Outlook

objective

objective

emissions of chemical
substances which iscategorized as Pollutant
Release and Transfer
・the Ministry of Environment
Register (PRTR) chemicals
and established its
environmental standard andreference value

Although there is an international guideline on the PRTR,
substances differs from country to country.

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・OECD

objective

objective

proportion of endangered
species to reference numberof species in a vertebrate・the Ministry of Environment
animal, insects and vascularplants.

There are different recognitions on the number depending
on creatures. There are creatures needs to be depend on
qualitative evaluation.

・the International Union forConservation of Nature・National statistics (various
countries)

objective

objective

overall indicators focusing
on conservation ofnone
endangered species andbiodiversity

There are various indicators proposed such as the Simpson
Index and the Shannon Biodiversity Index, and there is no
indicator firmly established. Also there are discussions onimportance of diversity of microorganism.

・Bhutan GNH (asking: if there are
any changes in plants in thesurrounding area)

objective

objective

factors

indicator

existing dataconsideration

global warming
issuestotal emission amount ofgreenhouse effect gas

・Greenhouse Gas Inventory Office of Japan
publishes the data on the greenhouse gas
emission.

The calculation and its boundary has been revised regularly.

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

resource productivity

・Ministry of Environment

The calculation and its boundary has been revised regularly.

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

cyclical use rate

・Ministry of Environment

This is not suitable simple comparison with other countries
because they differ depending on the stages of economic
development, industrial structure, the currency value, anddata availability.

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

final disposal amount・Ministry of Environment

same as above

・National Statistics (various
countries)
・OECD
・UNDP

achievement rate ofEnvironmental Quality
Standard for air pollution

・Ministry of Environment

Many standards have already been achieved.

annual hours exceed 30 °C
in urban area/A hot night・Ministry of Environment
when the temperature does
・Japan Meteorological Agency
not fall below 25°C
outdoors

maintenance andachievement status ofEnvironmental Quality
Standard of public water

maintenance andachievement status ofEnvironmental Quality
Standard of ground water

material cycle

examples of overseas

category

except household

air environment

water environment

Sustainability

environmental
risks fromchemical
substances

biodiversity

ecologicalfootprint

ecological footprint

・Ecological footprint Japan・WWF publishes the regular report
The Ministry of Environment is considering own project foron international comparisons of
ecological footprint.
environment.

objective

objective

environmentally friendly
housing・The Survey on Housing and Land (MIC) for
solar power generated housing, and doubled
window

There is no standard of environmentally friendly housing.

objective

objective

consumption of fair trade
products

none

NSLP fiscal year 2007 (Cabinet Office) has survey on therecognition of fair trade

objective

objectivenone

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare surveyed thesituation of the publishing CSR report.

objective

objective

consumer behavior

Corporate Social Number of companies
Responsibility publish CSR report

65

・Fair trade Labeling Organizations

Translator:
Midori Matsushima (Ph.D. Candidate at Osaka School of International Public Policy)
BA in Development Studies, University of East Anglia, the U.K.
MA in International Public Policy, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka
University, Japan.
Lived in Egypt, the U.K., Nicaragua and Japan.

66