Japanese consumers believe that improvements in their daily lives over the past year has been slower than that of overall economic activity in Japan, according to a survey released Friday by the Bank of Japan.

The diffusion index of consumer sentiment about overall economic activity -- calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents who see a worsening of the economy over the past year from the percentage of those who said the economy has improved -- came to minus 20.6 in the September survey, an improvement of 9.2 points from the previous survey in March.

In contrast, the corresponding index of people's sentiment about their daily lives improved a meager 1.7 points to minus 39.4, the BOJ said.

The central bank began the biannual survey of 4,000 consumers aged over 20 in 1993. The latest survey was conducted between Sept. 22 and Oct. 2 and received valid replies from 3,150 consumers.

Among other findings, the index showing whether incomes have increased or decreased stood at minus 34.7, an improvement of 2.4 points, while the spending index improved 3 points to minus 32.4.

For anticipated economic activity in the coming year, the index fell to minus 0.9, down from plus 0.2 in the March survey.