By RYUICHI HISANAGA/ Staff Writer
September 26, 2022 at 07:10 JST
A national research institute survey showed the percentage of single women who believe married people should have children almost halved from 2015. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Only 36.6 percent of single women between 18 and 34 believe married people should have children, a 2021 survey shows, down by almost half from 67.4 percent six years earlier.
The corresponding figure for male respondents fell to 55 percent from 75.4 percent in 2015, according to the results of the National Fertility Survey released Sept. 9 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Takumi Fujinami, an advanced senior economist with the Japan Research Institute Ltd., described the results as “shocking.”
“The desire to get married and have children significantly declined particularly among women,” said Fujinami, an expert on the issue of the falling birthrates.
“The percentage of women who don’t believe they will ever get married in their lifetime also increased more than men.”
The study was the latest in a series of nationwide surveys taken once every five years on people’s views of marriage and childbirth. It was conducted in 2021, one year later than originally scheduled because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The survey showed never-married people aged between 18 and 34 also want to have fewer children these days.
The respondents who said they intend to get married someday were asked how many children they want to have.
The responses averaged at 1.79 for women, down from 2.02 in 2015 and falling below 2 for the first time since the survey started in 1982. The corresponding figure for men was 1.82, down from 1.91.
A larger slice of the never-married respondents said they don’t want to get married in the first place.
Among men, 17.3 percent said they have no intention to get married in their lifetime, up 5.3 percentage points from the previous survey. The corresponding figure for women was 14.6 percent, up 6.6 points.
Fujinami said he believes the survey reflects women’s disappointment in and resentment toward the gender gap as they tend to receive lower wages than men while shouldering a greater burden of housework and child care.
He said the government will be forced to modify its traditional policies to stem the falling birthrates if young people are increasingly negatively viewing getting married and having children.
“Pushing marriages and making more slots available at day care centers do not resonate with those who have no desire to get married (and have children) in the first place,” Fujinami said.
“The survey results should be used as a clue to tackling the problem from new perspectives, such as how the gender gap could be filled and how the wage levels could be raised for young people.”
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