More than 60 percent of the nation's cities, towns and villages, particularly those with aging or declining populations, are considering mergers, according to a poll released Monday.
The survey, conducted by Kyodo News and associated newspaper publishers, showed 64 percent of municipal governments are examining specific plans for mergers.
The heads of 22 percent of municipalities said they are considering merger plans, while only 12 percent of municipalities said they are not thinking about mergers.
The figures show a sharp increase from four years earlier when a similar survey found only 4 percent of municipal governments considering mergers.
In the latest poll, only 6 percent said they are considering mergers in the hope of revitalizing local economies, indicating many are simply following the central government's recently stepped-up call for mergers.
The government believes merging municipalities will enhance administrative efficiency and reduce administrative costs. Mergers are also being promoted in view of the government's decentralization initiative.
The survey was based on questionnaires sent to 3,293 heads of towns, villages, cities and prefectures in November. There was a 98.8 percent response rate.
The local government chiefs were also asked to rate Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform initiatives, with 33 percent saying they endorse Koizumi's plans and 38 percent saying they do not.
Endorsements came particularly from municipalities with populations of 10,000 or more, while the chiefs of smaller communities expressed opposition.
On Koizumi's policy to pare public spending, one in three local government chiefs expressed opposition. But advocates outnumbered opponents among those municipalities with a population of at least 100,000.