Consumer Confidence Survey: August 2026 Results

“Consumer Confidence Survey: August 2026 Survey Results” is a monthly survey conducted by the Business Statistics Department of the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Cabinet Office. The survey reference date was August 15, 2026, and the results were published on September 1, 2026.

The survey aims to ascertain consumer awareness regarding expectations for future living conditions and other matters, price expectations, and ownership of major durable consumer goods, and to obtain basic materials for assessing economic trends. The survey items consist of consumers’ monthly awareness, price expectations, and household conditions, as well as the ownership and replacement status of major durable consumer goods surveyed in March.

The materials released this time focus on figures for households with two or more persons and include the Consumer Attitude Index and its component indicators, composition ratios by response category, price expectations one year ahead, time-series tables of unadjusted and seasonally adjusted values, notes on use, and the questionnaire. For figures for single-person households and total households, the materials direct users to the relevant page of the government statistics portal.

Consumer awareness in August showed movements by area: improvements in judgments on the timing of purchases and living conditions pushed up the index, while indicators related to income growth, employment conditions, and asset value fell below the previous month.

For price expectations one year ahead, responses predicting a rise formed the largest category, but compared with the previous month, “prices will rise” decreased while “prices will fall” and “prices will remain unchanged” increased.

The survey results are used to ascertain consumer awareness and price expectations and as basic materials for assessing economic trends.

In the results this time, the Consumer Attitude Index rose, while the component awareness indicators were divided between increases and decreases by item; regarding prices one year ahead, “prices will rise (5% or more)” was the most common response.

The survey population consists of approximately 54.11 million households nationwide, based on the 2020 Population Census, excluding households of foreign nationals, students, and residents of institutions. The 8,400 survey households were selected through three-stage sampling of municipalities, survey unit areas, and households, and consist of 5,376 households with two or more persons and 3,024 single-person households.

Survey households are surveyed continuously for 15 months and then replaced by other households. All survey households are divided into 15 groups, with each group consisting of approximately 560 households, or one-fifteenth of the total, and the survey begins with one group shifted each month. The survey is conducted once a month using both mail and online methods: questionnaires are mailed, and responses are submitted by mail or through the Government Statistics Shared-Use System.

The number of valid responses this time was 6,674 households, and the valid response rate was 79.5%. Of these, 4,347 were households with two or more persons (80.9%), and 2,327 were single-person households (77.0%). Because the number of responding households differs by item, the reported number of valid responses is the figure for the item with the largest number of responding households.

The seasonally adjusted Consumer Attitude Index was 35.5, an increase of 0.6 points from the previous month. Among its four component items, judgments on the timing of purchases of durable consumer goods were 27.5, up 1.9 points, and living conditions were 34.1, up 1.0 point. Income growth was 40.4, down 0.5 points, and employment conditions were 39.9, down 0.2 points. Asset value was 45.8, down 0.6 points.

For price expectations one year ahead, “prices will rise (5% or more)” was the largest category at 46.1%. The total for “prices will rise” was 89.0%, down 3.8 points from the previous month; the total for “prices will fall” was 4.6%, up 2.1 points; and “prices will remain unchanged (approximately 0%)” was 4.6%, up 1.7 points. “Do not know” accounted for 1.8%.

The consumer awareness indicators are created by asking about the outlook for the next six months in five areas: living conditions, income growth, employment conditions, judgments on the timing of purchases of durable consumer goods, and asset value. Depending on the item, responses are assigned scores from 0 to 1, multiplied by the composition ratios of the response categories, and summed. The Consumer Attitude Index is calculated as the simple average of the four items excluding asset value.

Seasonal adjustment uses Census X-12-ARIMA, and seasonally adjusted values are retroactively revised when the results of the March survey are published each year. The seasonally adjusted Consumer Attitude Index is the simple average of the seasonally adjusted values of its four component items. Asset value is seasonally adjusted using the X-11 default of X-12-ARIMA.

The Prime Minister has jurisdiction over the survey, which is conducted under contract by a private-sector operator. From fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2027, it has been commissioned to Survey Research Center Co., Ltd. The questionnaire asks about living conditions, income growth, employment conditions, judgments on the timing of purchases of durable consumer goods, asset value, price expectations one year ahead, household head attributes, household size, number of employed persons, income, and housing, among other matters.

The survey method has changed over time: in April 2013, it changed from an in-person placement survey to a mail survey, and in October 2018, it changed to a combined mail and online survey. Online responses began in November 2018, and the transition was completed with the December 2019 survey. In March 2025, new households in their first month of participation also became eligible to respond online.

The regional classifications are seven regions: Hokkaido and Tohoku, Kanto, Hokuriku and Koshinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku and Shikoku, and Kyushu and Okinawa. Total households means all households combined, comprising approximately 34.22 million households with two or more persons and approximately 19.89 million single-person households, and a weighted average is calculated using the household shares of the two categories.