Japanese provided a lower "life satisfaction" index reading than many of the 33 other member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD said Tuesday.
Forty percent of Japanese surveyed said they are satisfied with their lives, compared with the OECD average of 59 percent, the organization said. The poll also found that 40 percent of Japanese think their lives would be satisfactory five years from now, one of the lowest rates among the OECD member states.
The findings were part of the OECD's "Your Better Life Index" survey covering 11 areas to measure people's well-being and perceptions of their living conditions, amid views that macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product indexes don't necessary reflect people's perceptions of quality of life.
As for the area of health, only 33 percent of Japanese said they perceive themselves as healthy, compared with the OECD average of 69 percent.
But the Japanese provided relatively good readings on the topics of safety and education.
On safety, a topic in which Japan scored the highest, only 2 percent said they were subjected to violence by others during the past year, lower than the OECD average of 4 percent.