A Bank of Japan quarterly survey for December 2025 showed Monday that consumer sentiment in the country rose for two straight quarters while views on living conditions deteriorated for the first time in two quarters.
The results apparently suggest that an increasing number of people think the overall economy is getting better but that higher prices of goods and services are weighing on livelihood.
The diffusion index for consumers’ views of economic conditions came to minus 50.4 in the December survey, better than minus 58.7 in the previous survey, in September 2025.
The DI represents the percentage of respondents who believe economic conditions improved from a year before minus that of those feeling the opposite.
The DI for economic outlooks a year ahead stood at minus 18.3, reflecting rosier corporate earnings and increases in incomes thanks to wage hikes.
Meanwhile, the DI for living conditions, which represents the percentage of respondents who are better off compared with a year before minus that of those who are worse off, fell to minus 52.2 from minus 51.6.
In the survey, 95.2% of all respondents said that prices in the nation went up from a year earlier. The proportion has stood above 90% for three and a half years.
The latest survey, covering 4,000 people aged 20 or over nationwide, was conducted between Nov. 5 and Dec. 8. Of those people, 50.4% gave valid responses.