Marriage Statistics in Japan: Average Age of Couples Continues to Rise

In 2019, there were 598,965 marriages in Japan, according to statistics issued by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, an increase of more than 12,000 compared to 2018. The number of marriages began to decline in Japan after reaching a peak of 1.1 million in 1972. Although there was a temporary upturn in the 1990s, the number again began to trend downward in the new millennium. In 2019, marriages increased year on year for the first time in seven years, apparently as a result of the start of the Reiwa era, which many couples saw as an auspicious time to wed.

The peak age for women marrying for the first time remained 25, as it was 20 years ago, but the relative proportion of women getting married in their early twenties has fallen, revealing a trend toward getting married later in life.

Average Age at First Marriage in Japan

Created by Nippon.com based on demographic statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

By prefecture, Miyazaki had the youngest average age for men, at 30.1 years, while Okayama had the youngest for women, at 28.8. In contrast, the oldest average for both men and women was Tokyo, at 32.3 and 30.5, respectively.

Among all marriages, 19.7% of men and 16.9% of women were remarrying. This rate has remained relatively unchanged over the past few years, but compared to 1995 the rate for men has increased by 6.5 percentage points and the rate for women by 5.3 percentage points.

Proportion of Remarriages Among Marriages in Japan

Created by Nippon.com based on demographic statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

In 2019, there were 208,489 divorces, an increase of 156 over the previous year. The divorce rate per 1,000 people rose by 0.01 percentage points in 2019, to 1.69. The number of divorces increased from the 1990s, but has been declining since reaching a peak of 290,000 in 2002.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: © Pixta.)