A population survey of awareness and attitudes regarding a bone-marrow bank was carried out in 19 cities and towns of Shiga prefecture in July 1991, to identify factors that would promote donor self-registration among the general population. The survey involved 832 residents (416 men and 416 women) selected as follows: Each social welfare commissioner of the cities and towns selected a total of eight residents, one male and one female from each of 4 age groups (20-29, 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 years old). The questionnaires were distributed and collected by the social welfare commissioners with an overall response rate of 97.4%. Subjects answered questions regarding their experience and desire to participate in social volunteer activities, knowledge about bone-marrow banks, their perception of it's necessity, and whether they would participate in a bone-marrow bank, etc. A total of 25.9% of male and 20.6% of female subjects stated they had a desire to register in a bone-marrow bank. From the result of multiple regression analysis, the characteristics of those who showed interest in registration in a bone-marrow bank included having heard of the bone-marrow bank, experience in social volunteer activity, experience in blood donation, knowledge of bone-marrow transplantation and living in a town where need for establishment of a bone-marrow bank was widely discussed among residents. In the promotion of the idea of a bone-marrow bank, the role of motivating people to participate in voluntary blood donation and other social volunteer activities appears to be important.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)