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发表于 2012-1-6 09:03:01
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VOX POPULI: Concern for the future contributes to declining birthrate
When I walk through streets in bustling downtown areas, I fall under the impression that the world is made up of couples. Although this is not limited to the New Year holidays, be it in Shibuya or Harajuku, almost all the people I come across are couples. Of course, these people are out on the town braving the cold because they have partners. In other words, they do not represent the entire picture.
According to a 2010 survey of single people between the ages of 18 and 34 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 61 percent of men and 50 percent of women said they had no partners of the opposite sex. Compared with five years before, the percentages rose by 9 points for men and 5 points for women, and are the highest for both sexes since the survey started in the 1980s.
What is surprising is that nearly half of both men and women who had no partners said they do not particularly seek romantic relationships with members of the opposite sex. This is an age in which single people are free to enjoy themselves. In the old days, it was considered that men and women become full-fledged only when they get married, but such traditional perception is waning--even the laws of nature that draw people to the opposite sex seems to be getting weaker.
One of the factors behind the trend is anxiety for the future. Young people's vague apprehensions for employment, pension and the environment are gradually getting clearer. It is difficult to start a family at a time when people don't even know what is going to happen to themselves. This must also be a biological instinct of humans.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of couples who married last year was 670,000, down 30,000 from the year before. The number of newborns stood at 1.057 million, a record low in the past century for which statistics are available.
The Japanese population pyramid is getting thinner as the base gets narrower.
Couples will not get together because they want to do their part to prevent a national crisis. The order of cause and effect is clear. What stands between men and women are difficulties in actual life and anxiety for the future. Before bemoaning the declining birthrate, the government is urged to come up with measures to get people "in the mood."
--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 4 |
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