Figure III-1 Number of Prefectures Respondents Have Lived In

Abroad is counted as one location. “Unknown” answers are excluded.

residence are excluded from the total. According to these figures, the percentage of respondents who have only lived in a single prefecture, that is, respondents who have never lived in places other than the current prefecture of residence comprise 52.6% out of all household members and 40.4% of all household heads and spouses. The percentages of respondents who have lived in two locations were 27.2% and 31.8%, respectively, and the corresponding percentages for three locations were 11.8% and 15.8%, respectively. The percentage of respondents who have lived in four locations or more is low: only 8.4% of all household members and 12.0% of household heads and spouses. The average number of prefectures respondents have lived in is 1.83 for all household members and 2.09 for household heads and spouses if foreign countries are counted as 1. The corresponding values when foreign countries are excluded are 1.79 and 2.05, respectively.

The number of prefectures lived are fewer for all household members as compared to only the household heads and spouses, due to the inclusion of minors with little migration experience. Nonetheless, 47.4% of all household members have lived in two or more locations. Respondents who have lived in only one location, i.e., respondents who have never lived in locations other than the current prefecture, seem to be a minority, especially in adolescence and later.

Figure III-1 shows the corresponding values from the fifth survey as well, for the sake of comparison. In the previous survey, questions regarding prefectures of residence were asked only to household heads and spouses. Comparison of the values for household heads and spouses show that the percentages of those who have lived in a single location and those who have lived in two locations are slightly higher for this survey, whereas the percentage of those who have lived in three locations or more was slightly higher in the previous survey. The average numbers of prefectures of residence, when foreign countries are counted as 1, were 2.13 in the previous survey and 2.09 in this survey; the value was slightly lower this time. It should be noted that the questions asked in this survey was slightly different from the previous survey. The question in the previous survey did not specify the length of residence when it asked the respondents about the regions in which they have lived. Since the number of regions in which respondents have lived in is generally expected to decrease if the duration is specified, the value will be lower for the question format used in this survey even if the respondents have the same migration experience. Taking this point into consideration, it would appear that there are no significant differences in the responses between the previous survey and this one, at least regarding household heads' and spouses' overall migration patterns.

Looking at the average numbers of prefectures the respondents have lived in by age, sex, and present residential region counting foreign countries as 1 (Table III-1), the value turned out to be the highest among male respondents in their 40s to 60s living in the Tokyo area (in the category of all household members). The trend is mostly the same in case when the analysis is restricted to household heads and spouses as well, but in this case, the average value of respondents in the latter half of their 30s is also high. In either case, the values for all household members are lower than the corresponding values of household heads and spouses. A comparison of the values for household