Survey: 90％ of A-Bomb Survivors Worry About Future Without Them; Weapon’s Horror, Inhumanity ‘Will Be Forgotten’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:45 JST, July 25, 2025

About 90% of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors who responded to a survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun and other organizations expressed concern about an “era without any atomic bomb survivors.”

Amid the deteriorating global situation, the survey, which received 1,781 responses and was conducted ahead of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, highlighted the sense of crisis among atomic bomb survivors.

The Center for Peace of Hiroshima University, Hiroshima Television Corp. and Nagasaki International Television Broadcasting, Inc. assisted with the survey. The questionnaires were distributed to 7,159 atomic bomb survivors.

Asked if they were concerned about the arrival of an era without atomic bomb survivors, 1,592 respondents, or 89%, answered “yes.” When those 1,592 were asked to select the reasons why, with multiple answers allowed, the most common answer, chosen by 59%, was: “The horror and inhumanity of nuclear weapons will be forgotten.”

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo (the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) last year was regarded by 1,568 respondents, or 88%, as “significant.” Over half of those 1,568 respondents said, “It made the inhumanity of nuclear weapons known to the world,” and “It became an opportunity for countries around the world to reaffirm the ‘nuclear taboo.’”