D. Three-generational Co-residentiality among the Elderly
Table 10 indicates the trends in structure of households by family type having at least one elderly person aged 65 and over. This table reveals a quite notable result since three-generation households show the largest share in percentage distribution though the proportion has long been declining. In this table, the trends are clear： (1) an increase in nuclear-family like house-holds, including regular nuclear-family households and one-person house-holds and (2) a gradual but fairly appreciable decline in the proportion of three-generation households.
Table 11 indicates the patterns of living arrangement among household members aged 60 and over in Japan 1995. This table presents unique data on living arrangement of the population aged 60 and over classified by five-year age group as to whether living alone, co-living with their spouses, co-living with their married children, etc. This type of data are not available by the census, but only by the sample survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. This table clearly shows the continuity and tenacity in the traditional mode of living arrangement in Japan. Even though the three-generation family households has been declining in proportion, still 53 percent of the aged 60 years and over co-live with their children and 30 percent co-live with their married children. Furthermore, when they get older they tend to co-reside more numerously with their children, particularly with the married.
According to the 1985 Family Life Course Survey conducted by the Institute of Population Problems (Family Life Course Survey, 1986), 52.5 percent of the total respondents numbering 7,708 expressed the view that if one could live in a three-generation household, he would feel happier. Then, 38.4 percent of them believed that the three-generational co-living should be a more natural and human way of living arrangement whereas only 25.2 percent of them believed that the nuclear family should be a more natural and human way of living arrangement (Institute of Population Problems, 1986). According to the recent attitudinal survey by the Management and Coordination Agency, 53.6 percent of the elderly aged 60 and over felt happier if they could live together with their children and grand-children (Management and Coordination Agency, 1992).
