Household Spending in Japan

Measures the year-on-year change in consumption expenditure (消費支出) of Japanese households of two or more persons, in REAL terms (deflated by CPI excluding imputed rent for owner-occupied housing). Published monthly by the Statistics Bureau of Japan based on a survey of about 8,000 households. It is the main official monthly indicator of Japanese private consumption.

Monthly survey (income-expenditure diary) of a sample of about 8,000 households of two or more persons. Consumption expenditure (消費支出) excludes non-consumption spending (housing/car purchases, gifts, remittances). The REAL figure is obtained by deflating the nominal change using the Consumer Price Index (excluding imputed rent, base 2020=100).

It is the most closely watched monthly barometer of Japanese private consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japans GDP. The Bank of Japan and the government use it to gauge the strength of domestic demand and the impact of inflation on household purchasing power.

Relatively small sample (~8,000 households) subject to high month-to-month volatility and demographic composition effects (aging of the survey panel). Sensitive to one-off events (consumption tax changes, extreme weather, holidays shifting between months).