Youth romance is in crisis in Japan

A recent study by marriage introduction service company O-net (オーネット) in Japan revealed that the percentage of 20-year-olds with experience in romantic relationships and a desire to get married has reached its lowest level in the past decade. This phenomenon could be related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which coincided with the start of high school for this group.

According to the survey results, only 53.7% of respondents reported having had experience in romantic relationships, the lowest figure recorded in the past 10 years. When broken down by gender, 53.5% of men reported having had romantic relationships, a figure similar to the previous year (53.1%). However, women experienced a sharp decline, dropping from 70.2% the previous year to 53.8% this year.

As for marriage, 73.2% of respondents said they want to get married at some point (“soon” or “in the future”), but this figure also represents an all-time low. On the other hand, 26.8% said they have no interest in getting married (“I don’t want to” or “I have no intention of getting married”).

O-net analyzes that this phenomenon could be due to the reduction of opportunities to socialize and develop relationships during the pandemic , which began when this group entered high school. And the comments from the community were not long in coming:

" It seems that women no longer feel the need to pretend ."

« If you continue to consider pregnancy and childbirth in adolescence as taboo, of course there will be a low birth rate. Even a fool can understand that .»

" If you implement polygamy, the birth rate will drop even further ."

" It is not possible that in a survey of this type the percentage changes by 20% from one year to the next. There must have been some change in the methodology ."

" This simply reflects the fact that today's 20-year-olds are struggling more economically due to rising prices and are poorer than previous generations ."