Only One in Seven Young Japanese Women Think that They Will Definitely Get Married

When the Nippon Foundation asked 1,000 young Japanese people aged 17 to 19 years old, “Do you want to get married in the future?” more than 40% of both young men and women said, “Yes.” Added to the responses saying “On balance, yes,” this pushed the total to more than 60% who wanted to get married.

However, when asked if they thought they would actually get married, only 19.2% of young men and 13.7% of young women said “definitely.”

The most common reason given by more than 60% of young people saying that they will “definitely” or “probably” get married was “to be with the person I love.” On the other hand, 44.2% of young women and 36.3% of young men said it would be because they want “to raise children.” This highlighted that these days people are not always linking marriage with raising children.

Of the young men who answered they “probably won’t” or “definitely won’t” get married, the main reason for 47.3% was that they “don’t have or can’t find a partner.” Among the young women, the majority, with 52.3%, answered that they “feel more comfortable being single,” a much higher response than the 44.1% who said they “don’t have or can’t find a partner.” In addition, more young women than men thought that there were merits from not getting married, with 36.9% not wanting to raise children, 35.1% who did not want to lose their freedom, and 22.5% who had higher priorities than having a family.

When asked, “Do you want to have children?” more than half of respondents said, “Yes,” or “On balance, yes.” However, only 10.0% of young women and 14.7% of young men thought that they definitely would have children. The financial burden was seen as the biggest obstacle to starting a family.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)