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Most Single Japanese Women Want to Stay Unmarried
(submitted by gekkogecko)
Reuters
TOKYO (Reuters) - Most single Japanese women prefer
not to marry and believe they can live happily alone
for the rest of their life, a poll showed Friday,
casting another shadow on the future of a country
plagued by a falling birthrate.
About seven in ten single Japanese women surveyed by
the conservative Yomiuri newspaper said they would
rather stay unwed.
"The result reflects a recent trend among single women
who no longer attach social stigma to choosing the
single life," the daily said.
Japan's government is struggling to stem a tumbling
birthrate and keep the population from shrinking.
The country's fertility rate -- the average number of
children born to a woman during her lifetime -- fell
to 1.29 in 2003, the lowest in the post-World War II
period.
In Tokyo, the figure was a startling 0.9987.
Underscoring concerns that an aging population may
dent future growth in the world's second-largest
economy, Japan said Monday that its population grew
only 0.05 percent in the year to Oct. 1, its slowest
increase in 54 years. Japan's population totaled an
estimated 127,687,000 as of Oct. 1, 2004.
A government think tank has forecast that Japan's
population will peak in 2006 and start to shrink the
following year.
If present trends persist, the population would fall
to about 100.6 million in 2050. Among oft-cited
reasons for the falling birthrate are higher education
levels, changing attitudes toward marriage and
individual freedom, the high financial burden of child
rearing, and the hardships involved for working women
given long hours on the job and a persistent dearth of
daycare.
The Yomiuri said 74 percent of surveyed men and women
in their 20s said they believe women can be happy
unmarried, while the rate dropped to 66 percent of
those in their 30s and 58 percent in their 40s. "The
result depicted a tendency among younger generations
to remain single, leading observers to the conclusion
that the number of people who marry late will further
increase and will lower the birthrate," the newspaper
said.
Unless steps are taken, the shortage of children will
create problems for Japan including damage to its
economic growth prospects, higher social welfare costs
for individuals, and even psychological problems from
poorly socialized youth, said a government white paper
released in October.
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