to/from relatively young one-person households, etc. are considered to have affected the result of this survey. Since the migration tendency is higher among the younger generations in general, the recent migration trends estimated by this survey may be slightly lower than the actual trend.

## I I Migration from Residence 5 Years Earlier

As in the previous survey, the present survey asked respondents to specify their location of residence five years earlier (i.e., July 1, 2001). In the following, we explore migration trends by age by making a comparison with the results of the previous survey. Even if the location of residence 5 years earlier was the same as the present residence, it is quite possible that many of the respondents have actually moved within the period. In this analysis, however, the respondents were treated as “migrated” only if the location of residence 5 years earlier was different from the present residence (the location of residence at the time of the survey).

The data of the present survey indicate that a total of 27.6% $ ^{3} $ of the respondents lived in a different residence five years earlier. This percentage is higher than indicated by the previous survey (24.0% $ ^{4} $ ) (Table II-1). Among those who moved within the last five years, the percentage of intraprefectural migration was 21.3% (previous survey: 17.9%) while the percentage of inter-prefectural migration (moved in from “different prefecture” or from “foreign country”) was 6.4% (previous survey: 6.1%). The results show that intra-prefectural migration has become significantly more common than before. Moves within the same prefecture can be classified into intra-municipal migration and inter-municipal migration, but a simple comparison with the previous survey is no longer possible due to the Heisei Municipal Amalgamation (under which various municipality districts were merged). In order to make a proper comparison with the previous survey, intra-municipal moves are defined as cases where respondents answered that the residence five years earlier was “within the same municipality as the current municipality” and also answered “within the same municipality” according to the municipality division five years earlier. Inter-municipal moves are defined as cases where the residence five years earlier was in a “different municipality within the same prefecture as the current prefecture” or cases where the residence five years earlier was “within the same municipality” but in a “different municipality” according to the municipality division five years earlier.

The data of the present survey indicate that out of the 21.3% who had moved within the same prefecture, 12.3% had moved within the “same municipality” (previous survey: 11.0%), 7.6% (previous survey: 6.9%) had moved from a “different municipality,” and 1.4% was “unknown.” The “unknown” percentage refers to cases where the respondent’s residence five years earlier was “within the same municipality as the current municipality” but the division of the municipality five years earlier was unknown. These cases correspond to respondents who either have moved within the same municipality or moved from a different municipality according to the definitions above. These results show an increase in both the moves within the same municipality and the moves from a different municipality. Overall, a strong increasing trend can be seen especially for shorter-distance moves.

Next, the movements by sex as well as age are examined. Data by sex indicate that 28.4% of the male respondents had moved from the residence five years earlier (previous survey: 24.7%), while the corresponding percentage of the female respondents was 26.7% (previous survey: 23.5%). The percentage is higher for the male population, which is a recurring trend. Figure II-1 classifies respondents who were 5 years or older at the time of the survey into 5-year cohorts by sex to show

Table II-1 Percentage of Respondents Whose Residence 5 Years Earlier was Different from the Present Residence

Total	In the Same Prefecture as 5 Years Earlier	In the Different Prefecture as 5 Years Earlier
in the same municipality	in a different municipality	municipality unknown
The Sixth Survey	27.6	21.3	12.3	7.6	1.4	6.4
The Fifth Survey	24.0	17.9	11.0	6.9	-	6.1

* The percentages do not include persons aged 0 to 4 and persons with unknown residence five years earlier at the time of the survey