Table VII-3 Percentage of Reasons for Possible Migration: “Retirement from Work” (Predominantly Male Retiring Generation)

Age	4th	5th	6th
50-54	5.4	8.2	6.1
55-59	35.1	41.7	43.8
60-64	20.3	25.5	30.6

$ ^{*} $ Percentage excludes reasons for possible migration “Unknown.”

Table VII-4 Distributions of Reasons for Migration by Region (Metro/Non-Metro)

(%)
Reasons	Metropolitan Area	Non-Metropolitan Area
5th	6th	5th	6th
Attend school	3.5	5.0	10.1	12.7
Got a job	6.9	10.7	12.1	15.4
Change job	2.8	3.8	2.4	2.7
Job transfer	6.2	8.9	7.4	14.3
To succeed family business	0.4	0.5	1.1	0.6
Retirement	1.9	3.1	1.6	2.4
Housing-related reasons	22.6	15.6	15.4	7.1
Better neighborhood	9.7	6.3	6.4	4.9
Easier to commute	2.6	3.0	1.7	0.8
To live with parent(s)	5.7	4.1	4.6	3.1
To live closer to parent(s)	1.2	1.2	1.6	1.3
To live with child(ren)	0.8	1.7	1.2	1.0
To live closer to child(ren)	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.6
To accompany family member(s)	10.7	11.6	10.5	12.4
Marriage	16.2	15.7	14.6	12.9
Better environment for rearing child(ren)	2.4	2.8	2.4	1.8
Health reasons	-	0.8	-	1.7
Other Reasons	6.0	4.6	6.4	4.3

$ ^{*} $ Percentage excludes reasons for possible migration “Unknown.”

regarding other reasons. Looking at the reasons for migration to live together or to live closer to parents/children, it is noted that while “to live with parents” and “to live closer to parents” decreased, “to live with children” and “to live closer to children” increased, albeit by small margins. As the general aging of the population advances, it is considered that the frequency of cases where old parents migrate to live with their children or to live in the vicinity of their children will continue to grow gradually in the future as well. Such movements may further promote aging of society in the urban regions. Finally, it is noted that “for health reasons,” a new option included in the present survey, was chosen by 1.2% of the total number of respondents, primarily by the elderly.

Table VII-4 shows the distribution of reasons for migration by current residential region (classified as either metropolitan areas or non-metropolitan areas). There are several noticeable differences between the two types of areas. The percentages of respondents selecting “housing situation,” “marriage,” etc. as possible reasons are higher in metropolitan areas. It is considered that the “housing situation” percentage is higher because the housing environment in metropolitan areas differs vastly from those in non-metropolitan areas, whereas the disproportionate population distribution of the younger generations in metropolitan areas are expected to significantly contribute to the higher percentage of “marriage.” On the other hand, in non-metropolitan areas, the percentages of “for higher education,” “for the first job,” “job transfers,” and other reasons that might involve relatively long-distance migration are higher. Compared with the previous survey, large differences in some of the reasons between metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas can be observed. Nonetheless, the changes are mostly in tune with the overall changes, showing mostly stable distributions of reasons for migration by region.

### 4. Migration Possibilities in the Next Five Years

In the question on prospects for migration, the respondents are asked to choose either “residence different from the present residence” or “same residence as the present residence.” In situations where the respondents are not certain of their prospects for migration, it is not only difficult to answer the question, but also impossible to ascertain the degree of certainty of the responses. For this reason, we included a new question regarding the possibilities of migration in the present survey,