Japanese Junior High School Students Becoming Less Keen to Marry in Their Twenties

A survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare shows that students in the first year of junior high school, born in 2010, are far less interested in getting married some day and having children than those born in 2001 were when they were the same age.

The survey is conducted on an ongoing basis every year by asking the children born in 2010 about changes in their own situation and that of their families. The aim is to make use of the survey findings as a resource for the formulation of policies to counter Japan’s declining birthrate and other measures. A total of 24,755 questionnaires were distributed for the latest version of the survey, with 20,830 valid responses received.

Regarding future plans for marriage, the most common response among boys and girls surveyed was that they had “not thought about it.” This response was more common than it had been among those born in 2001. For girls born in 2001, 54.8% wanted to get married either between 20 and 24 or between 25 and 29. In contrast, only 35.2% of girls born in 2010 hoped to get married in their twenties. Among boys as well, those wanting to get married in their twenties decreased from 32.9% to 24.9%.

When asked when they would like to have their first child, 33.9% of girls born in 2001 said from the age of 25 to 29, whereas among those born in 2010 only 28.1% of the girls surveyed wanted to have their first child while they were still in their twenties. The percentage of boys who wanted to become fathers while still in their twenties dropped from 23.8% of those surveyed in 2001 to 17.8%.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)