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The story
A first-of-its-kind large-scale survey by Japan’s Children and Families Agency has found that 35% of unmarried respondents say they have no intention of ever marrying. The online survey targeted roughly 100,000 people nationwide aged 15 to 39, running from May 20 to August 5, with about 68,000 valid responses collected through July 23. Many respondents cited anxiety over income and changing circumstances as reasons for hesitating to marry. On 5ch forums, opinions split over taxing singles, whether to cut their pension benefits, differences in marriage rates between the “Ice Age” generation and the “Yutori” generation, and how the Children and Families Agency’s budget is being spent.
A first-ever large-scale survey conducted by the Children and Families Agency revealed on the 31st that 35% of unmarried young people say they have no intention of marrying.
Many cited anxiety over income and changing circumstances as barriers to marriage. Behind the declining birthrate lies not only shifting values among young people but also a broader trend toward staying single or marrying later in life. The agency plans to analyze the survey results in detail and use them to shape future policy.
To better understand the challenges and attitudes facing young people, the agency conducted an online survey of roughly 100,000 men and women nationwide aged 15 to 39, from May 20 to August 5. About 68,000 valid responses received by July 23 were compiled.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
will the falling birthrate cut into work for small/mid-size regional sash (window frame) manufacturers? Will they go under?
High-performance resin-composite sashes for buildings: roughly flat to slightly down from 59,000 tons/year.
Traditional aluminum sashes for standard housing (60,000 tons): production is ending — not just halved, but headed to zero.
Resin sashes: net increase up to 60,000 tons.
That's the conclusion based on the earnings trends and market outlook of Fuji Light Metal, the OEM supplier for major sash makers YKK AP, LIXIL, and Sankyo Tateyama.
For reference:
Under the April 2025 revision to the Building Energy Efficiency Act,
all newly built "non-residential buildings" — office buildings, stores, factories, schools, etc. — became legally required starting April 2025 to meet energy-efficiency standards,
so building-use sashes have already shifted to high-performance resin-composite.
Aluminum sashes, due to the regulations,
now have no building category left where they can be used.
and people told me to just get married and grind it out as a two-income household instead.
Thing is, I can't even find someone to be that other income.
Marriage → wife → she wants kids → two kids arrive → now you've got 3 dependents.
On just your salary.
This is a thread about the declining birthrate, and you're recommending DINKs (dual income, no kids)? That's the dumb part.
Tax singles, raise their insurance premiums.
Has to be one of those — nothing works without a penalty.
If people aren't marrying because they're broke, taxing singles just makes marriage even less affordable lol
Just slap a heavy singles tax on anyone over 35, done.
Middle-aged singles should just pay a ¥2 million/year poll tax.
But 90% of married people say they're "happy" in surveys.
That's because if you flash your happiness in front of someone whose face screams "single and anti-marriage," you feel like you'll get cursed. So instead: "Ugh, I regret it soooo much" (gotta say that in front of this person or it's scary) (truthfully, being a couple makes it way easier to weather the price hikes, and having someone to lean on is a blessing) "No freedom, it's rough" (gotta put on the unhappy face or you'll get cursed).
Childless people should get zero old-age pension, seems fair.
We're about 40 years too late for this.
Wasn't it because the Employment Ice Age generation didn't marry?
Didn't anyone sound the alarm back then?
The Ice Age generation is good at gritting it out, so quite a lot of them actually did get married.
At reunions, being unmarried isn't the norm — it's treated as a red flag.
On the marriage-rate graph, the Ice Age generation is where the decline starts —
it's the following Yutori generation where it falls off a cliff.
Today's 30-year-olds have parents roughly aged 55 to 65,
meaning it's the Bubble generation that didn't have kids.
There were plenty of them, they just didn't reproduce.
That would send welfare rolls through the roof lol
Can't do that.
Katayama Satsuki's supposedly reforming welfare, so…
Can cost up to ¥25 million
Come on, only a handful of people actually send their kids to private elementary school.
Birth numbers are actually up, so
it's probably not all wasted money —
but it does seem like they could boost them more efficiently.
I saw that the number of Japanese nationals specifically is still falling though.
That figure includes foreign residents, so it's hard to say either way.
[Population] First-half (Jan–Jun) births rise for first time in 11 years (+0.8%) — 342,069 births *Preliminary figure, includes foreign nationals ★2
https://asahi.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1787975031/
I never managed to get married, but looking back now, I'm relieved.
I don't think you should take on responsibility you can't actually carry.
Well, your partner could get sick and basically lose the ability to communicate with you too.
Getting old comes with loneliness whether you're married or not —
that's just how it has to be.
Serious illness leading to divorce is a pretty common story too!
People like you always stoke anxiety to push marriage.
You're gonna get married out of fear? If you actually save properly, a nursing home is fine for old age.
Is the Children and Families Agency even accomplishing anything with that?
Well, births have technically started increasing.
Of course it's not working.
That ¥7 trillion is itself part of why the birthrate is falling.
Just scrap the Children and Families Agency.
Divide that by the current 13.29 million minors, and
it works out to about ¥526,711 per kid.
Background and Key Points of Debate
This is the first large-scale survey conducted by the Children and Families Agency since its founding, and it stands out for asking young people directly about their own attitudes. In the thread, opinions split over whether the agency’s budget (some put it at around ¥7 trillion) is actually working as an effective countermeasure to the falling birthrate, with voices praising the rise in births clashing against those pointing out the figure includes foreign nationals. There’s also the observation that “the Ice Age generation did marry, but the marriage rate then fell off a cliff with the following Yutori generation” — a generational gap that tends to get overlooked when discussing the declining birthrate, and a reminder that “today’s youth” can’t be treated as one uniform group. Extreme proposals like taxing singles came up too, but it’s worth noting these are the kind of extreme takes typical of a forum thread rather than part of actual policy debate.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News Plus) thread “‘No Plans to Marry’: 35% Cite Income and Life Uncertainty — Survey of 44,000 Unmarried Youth.”
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