The number of people expressing understanding of a rise in public pension premiums has dropped compared with 10 years ago, according to recent government survey.

The fall reflects the domestic economic slump, said a Health Labor and Welfare Ministry official.

"Ten years ago, the economy wasn't as bad as it is now, and there was less resistance among people to the idea of bigger burdens," the official said.

The survey, conducted in February and released Saturday by the Cabinet Office, covered 3,580 adults nationwide.

Some 46.7 percent of respondents said they would support a rise in pension premiums and a decrease in benefits. This figure was down from 65.9 percent in the 1993 survey.

Some 18 percent said they think a considerable rise in premiums is inevitable if benefits are to be maintained at current levels. In the 1993 survey, 16.9 percent of the respondents felt the same.

Benefits should be reduced to prevent a rise in premiums, said 12.3 percent -- almost double the 6.5 percent of 10 years ago.

Regarding the government's plan to implement fixed pension premiums, 46.2 percent said it is a good idea, while 30 percent said it is not.

As part of the fiscal 2004 reforms to the pension system, the government is eyeing raising the cap on pension premiums to around 20 percent of annual income while gradually decreasing benefits in line with economic circumstances.

Asked whether part-time employees should be eligible for employee pension systems, 58 percent responded affirmatively, compared with 28.5 percent who were against the idea.

As for how they plan to get by in retirement, 41.7 percent said they would depend mainly on public pension payments, supplemented by benefits from private pension plans and personal savings.

This figure was down 9.3 percentage points from a survey conducted in 1998.

In contrast, the number of people who said they intend to depend almost entirely on their public pension rose 7.2 points from five years ago to 29 percent.

Those who said they would try as hard as possible not to depend on public pension payments -- using private pension plans and savings instead -- totaled 21.7 percent, little changed from the 1998 survey.