Over 30% of unmarried people in Japan do not want children

From Kyodo

September 11 2026

TOKYO – More than 30 percent of unmarried people aged 18 to 34 in Japan do not wish to have children, the highest percentage since comparable data became available in 2002, a government survey showed Friday, raising concerns that the country’s already low birthrate could decline further.

According to the survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the average number of children desired was 1.30 for male respondents and 1.36 for female respondents, both record lows.

Among unmarried men, 33.0 percent said they did not want any children, up 9.8 percentage points from the previous survey in 2021, while the figure for women rose 8.8 points to 32.4 percent. In the previous survey, the average number of children desired was 1.56 for both men and women.

An institute official said diversified lifestyles and values, as well as financial concerns, may be contributing to the decline in the desire among young people to have children.

The findings come as Japan continues to grapple with a falling birthrate despite government efforts to reverse the trend. The number of births has fallen sharply from 2.09 million in 1973, at the height of the country’s second baby boom.

The institute has conducted surveys on birth and marriage trends roughly every five years since 1940. The 2025 survey received valid responses from 6,756 unmarried people and 5,024 married couples on their views about marriage and having children.

Among married couples, the ideal number of children averaged 2.18, while the number they planned to have averaged 1.95, falling below two for the first time.

The most common reason cited for not having their ideal number of children was that “raising and educating children costs too much,” according to the survey.

Among couples who married in the past five years, 20.2 percent said they had met online, including through dating apps, almost double the figure in the previous survey.

The figure was about the same as the 20.9 percent who met through work and the 20.2 percent who met through friends or siblings.

The survey also found that 24.0 percent of unmarried men and 21.5 percent of unmarried women said they do not intend to ever marry.

Some 42.3 percent of men and 36.7 percent of women said they had never dated a member of the opposite sex.