More young men in Japan shunning marriage

Lopsided love: Many young Japanese women are keen to get married but their male peers are not so eager. — AFP

THE percentage of men in their 20s who did not wish to marry surpassed 20% in a survey conducted in fiscal 2015, nearly twice the level in a previous survey in fiscal 2008, according to results released by the National Institution for Youth Education.

The surveys show women in the same age group have become more polarised, with more respondents saying either they wished to marry as soon as possible or they did not wish to marry at all.

Moreover, the number of respondents in this generation who did not wish to have a child doubled.

A Tokyo-based independent administrative institution, the National Institution for Youth Education cites low income among the young generation as the main factor behind these trends.

The latest survey was conducted in December, with 4,000 men and women in their 20s and 30s asked for their views on marriage and child-rearing. The institution then compared the latest survey results with those from a poll conducted in February 2009.

Their findings show male respondents in their 20s are now less keen to marry, with 21.6% saying they did not wish to marry, up 9.7%, while only 12.1% said they wished to marry as soon as possible, down by 5.3%.

In contrast, among female respondents in the same age group, 25.5% said they wished to marry as soon as possible, while 12.9% had no desire to marry.

Both figures were up from the previous survey.

When the survey asked respondents who said they were in relationships including those in their 30s about why they were not married, 63.8% cited financial challenges, followed by 50.4% who said it was easier to be on their own.

Among those who earned annual incomes of less than ¥3mil (RM120,000), more than 70% cited financial difficulties.

Asked about child-rearing, 21.9% of respondents in their 20s said they did not wish to have a child, up 10.8%.

The latest survey also looked into the relationship between respondents’ views on marriage and their experiences in their early years up through elementary school.

Among respondents who said they used to play often with friends in their younger days, more than 50% were married, while only 30% of those who said they did not often play with friends as children, were married.