In 2010, 36.2 per cent of men and 38.7 per cent of women in the 18-34 age bracket said they were virgins.
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The study found 42 per cent of Japanese men, aged between 18 and 34, are virgins, while 44.2 per cent of women the same age had never had sex.
A booming industry surrounds Japan’s growing condition of loneliness, a phenomenon at once quite particular to the Japanese yet also a glimpse into a future where many people live atomised lives mediated exclusively through personal technology.
The Debrief: Japan’s population is shrinking, and this might be why. The birthrate has dropped significantly in Japan, prompting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to encourage more couples to “boost the birthrate”, according to Japan Times.
But 30 per cent of the 2,706 men sampled and 26 per cent of the 2,570 female respondents said they were not now looking for a relationship.
There was no accounting for the discrepancy between the genders, except perhaps for the age-old problem of men and women having different understandings of the word “commitment”. However, 70 per cent of single men and 74 per cent of single women said they wanted to be in a relationship.
But 30 percent of the 2,706 men sampled and 26 percent of the 2,570 female respondents said they were not now looking for a relationship. “But they tend to put it off as they have gaps between their ideals and the reality”, said Futoshi Ishii, head of the NIPSSR population dynamics research department.
Japan is home to the world’s oldest populations, with a low (and decreasing birthrate) and very many single people. The government hopes to achieve this by making it easier for families to raise children, such as by increasing the places available at nursery schools. Marriage doesn’t automatically mean there must be children either, as the birthrate for couples married up to 15-19 years is at a record low of 1.94.
The only positive outcome of this trend is that ratio of women who returned to work after having their first child exceeded 50 percent for the first time, states the report.
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According to the survey almost three quarters of people aged between 18-34 are still single and the country’s population is projected to fall around a third to 87 million by 2060.
