More than half believe economy heading for worse+

TOKYO, March 27 Kyodo -
More than half of Japan's adults believe the country's economy is worsening, a
Cabinet Office opinion survey on social awareness showed Saturday.
It earlier this year asked 10,000 adults, of whom 62.1 percent responded, which
areas of Japanese society were worsening and which were improving, with
multiple answers allowed.
Among the deteriorating fields, the state of the economy ranked at the top for
the third straight year, with 63.1 percent of respondents making it their
number one answer, followed by employment and labor conditions at 56.5 percent,
state finance at 47.6 percent, economic power at 39.2 percent and commodity
prices at 32.5 percent, according to the survey.
Meanwhile, scientific technology was ranked top in the improving fields for the
fourth consecutive year, with 20.7 percent citing improvement in the category,
followed by medicine and welfare at 18.7 percent.
Asked what aspects of Japan they felt proud of, 49.9 percent cited the beauty
of nature, 47.9 percent long history and tradition and 46.3 percent said
precious culture and arts, the survey said.
==Kyodo