Survey Indicates Japanese Giving Up on Getting Married After 35

In a survey in Japan conducted by the Nippon Foundation, 6,000 people aged 15 to 45 were asked questions related to the declining birth rate. At 46%, just under half of the 3,935 single respondents stated they “have” an intention to get married, 13 percentage points higher than the 33% who said they “do not.”

When it came to whether they realistically foresaw if they would get married though, only 27% said they thought they will get married, which was 12 percentage points lower than the 39% who believed they would not. While people said they intended to get married, they were less optimistic about the actual prospects.

Regardless of gender, the younger the respondent was, the higher the percentage for those who stated “I think I will get married,” with approximately 40% of those aged 15 to 25 thinking so. Meanwhile, more than 50% of respondents aged 36 to 45 answered that “I don’t think I will get married.” It appears that people are tending to give up on marriage as they get older.

Around 30% of the respondents living in central Tokyo, designated cities, and core cities said, “I think I will get married,” while the percentage was slightly lower at just over 20% for those located in towns and villages.

When the 1,313 people who stated they “don’t want to get married” were asked the reason why, the most common answer was that they “prefer to be single” with 40%, followed by “can’t see any benefits” (33%), and “want to prioritize my own life” (29%). Meanwhile, more than 20% answered that they “don’t have a clear reason in particular or don’t know.”

The top two reasons given by the 267 people who responded that they want to get married, but think that they won’t were “no chances to meet someone” (49%) and “can’t get along with the opposite sex” (48%). Another main reason was that they were “not confident financially” (45%).

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)