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WOMEN in Japan are increasingly avoiding marriage, underlining changes to the Japanese social fabric and trends toward declining birthrates and the prospect of a shrinking population.
A newspaper poll published yesterday showed 73 per cent of unmarried Japanese women are happy being single - 10 per cent more than two years ago.
Japan’s birthrate has fallen to among the world’s lowest as fewer people opt for matrimony and couples wait longer to tie the knot. Many families are also choosing to have only one child, citing the high cost of education and shortage of child care.
The declining birthrate is raising concerns about how future generations will support growing numbers of elderly.
Earlier this week, the government said Japan’s population grew by a record slow pace of 0.05 per cent last year, while those aged 65 or older accounted for a record-high 19.5 per cent.
Experts predict Japan’s population will peak at around 127.7 million next year and fall rapidly over the next half-century to about 100 million.
About 58 per cent of the survey’s respondents - both male and female - said they thought it was a problem that Japanese were delaying marriage, while 67 per cent said the entry of more women into the workforce had contributed to people delaying marriage. About 51 per cent said people felt less pressure to get married by a certain age.
The newspaper did not ask men whether they thought they could lead happy lives without marrying, reflecting how women in Japan often face stronger pressure than men to wed.
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