A government survey showed Friday that 78.2% of respondents feel anxious or worried, the highest level since the government began asking about such sentiment in the annual survey in 1981, Azernews reports, citing Japan Times.

The public opinion survey on people's lives by the Cabinet Office also found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is in the lower-middle part of the general public, the highest level in 35 years, while 46.7% answered middle, 14.2% upper-middle, 8.7% low and 1.7% high.

People worry most about their own health, cited by 63.8% of all respondents, followed by plans for life after retirement, picked by 62.8%, and the outlook for future income and assets, chosen by 58.0%.

Meanwhile, the share of respondents satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their income or revenue was 34.9%, up 3.5 percentage points from the record low posted the previous year. The share of those who answered dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied declined 3.5 points to 64.5%.

Some in the government believe that these results suggest positive effects of pay hikes. But asked what policy measures the government should put emphasis on, the biggest proportion, at 66.1%, chose steps against inflation — the same as the year before.

The survey has been conducted since fiscal 1957, with the latest being the 67th edition.

The survey was conducted by mail from Aug. 8 to Sept. 15 with 3,000 Japanese nationals age 18 or over nationwide. Valid responses were received from 61%.

Since the survey was previously conducted in person, the Cabinet Office said that simple comparisons cannot be made between the latest results and past data.