May 15, 2009

Hokkaido University Research Project on the Actual Living Conditions of the Ainu (overview of results)

Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies

  1. Survey overview

Survey period: October 2008

Response collection rate:

Questionnaires for households

Number of questionnaires distributed: 3,437

Number of valid responses collected: 2,903

Rate of valid response: 84.5%

Questionnaires for individuals

Number of questionnaires distributed: 7,306

Number of valid responses collected: 5,703

Rate of valid response:78.1%

  1. Primary results of aggregation

①Financial conditions

The largest group of households was that with an annual income of ¥2,000,000 to ¥2,999,999. The average annual income of all groups was ¥3,558,000, and the average of those excluding the no-income group was ¥3,692,000. According to a survey onhousehold income conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the average annual household income in Hokkaido was ¥5,721,000.

Source: 2008 Survey of Household Economy by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (

②Livelihood subsidies

Those currently receiving livelihood subsidies and those who had received them before accounted for 5.2% and 4.8%, respectively. The overall rate of subsidy receipt in Hokkaido was 2.3% (2008) (

③Living conditions

People who answered that they were well off/relatively well off accounted for less than 20% of the total.

Although the results of a2006 survey on the living conditions of the Ainu by the Hokkaido Government showed significant improvement, our research here indicated that conditions hadreturned to their previous levels. It should be noted that, because the survey results shown in Fig. 3-2 include the no-response group, the values differ from those in Fig. 3-1, which excludesthe group.

④Occupation

The rates of people engaged incraft and production(24.2%) and in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (27.5%) were high. In particular, 66.5% of senior workers aged 70 or older were engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. For younger people, meanwhile, the rate of employment in primary industry was lower, while that in the clerical and service sectortended to be higher.

Younger respondents tended to work for larger companies. The number working in public office positionswas very low.

⑤Academic background

For respondents younger than 30 years old, the rate of high school enrollment matched the national average (nearly 100%). University enrollment, however, was lower than the national average by more than 20%.

⑥Requests for Ainu measures

The numbers of those choosing “Support for academic improvement,” “A society where human rights are respected” and “Employment measures” were significant, with each exceeding 2,000.

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