Half of unmarried people under 30 in Japan do not want kids: survey

Kids are the ultimate bet on better future and since bubble burst, nobody in their right mind would say Japan's moving in right direction, just varying degrees of NOT GOOD.

So how can blame them, as the evidence and their experience equals - REALITY.

a questionnaire to 400 people doesn't strike me as qualifying as "a white paper". wonder what Rohto Pharmaceutical Co.'s interest is, since they seem not to produce any 'treatments' specifically child-related.....

Market research-based surveys, pretty standard stuff, their reputation depends on being as accurate as possible, hardly a case where a firm would have an 'agenda'.

Childbirth is painful.

They best start working on those robots - those pensions aren't going to pay themselves.

I think the survey group had another unobserved motive for not wanting children. That generation of under-30s grew up in a social vacuum of uniformity and don't want to be responsible for making any more children miserable clones.

I get it. I have 3 kids and am totally exhausted. The bills just keep on coming.

The exhaustion goes away, the bills keep coming until they graduate university! (Sometimes even longer!)

Good.

citing such reasons as the high cost and anxiety about Japan's future

The first part is obvious and understandable. The second, however, is incredibly vague.

Some issues that come to mind are the economic decline, social isolation, political instability in the region we have been reading about a lot recently and climate change.

It might be good to find out what young people are anxious about rather than throw money at the problem and pose for photographs.

The company's fiscal 2022 survey found that 48.1 percent of married men and women wishing to have children were cooperating with their partners' fertility efforts, according to the study also covering 800 married couples aged between 25 and 44.

Does that mean that 51.9% are relying on the stork to deliver one??

When they get married or become 30 or over, I guess the result will be quite different. The situation and environment will affect the survey result.

Having children is a big investment, don't do it if you cannot afford it. By the way, Japan will be quickly downgraded to be a third world country if the heavy burden of feeding a large population of old people by a small young population.The LDP doesn't cares anything at all, they just three away money and keep printing money to make ordinary people living getting harder and harder!

They best start working on those robots - those pensions aren't going to pay themselves.

Yes, perish the thought of letting foreigners in to do the jobs today's Japanese have neither the ability nor desire to do.

One of the things that would put me off having children in Japan , is the ridiculous price of school uniforms, they are more than a good suit from a tailors, how can they justify the sky high prices? its about time the schools lost this monopoly,

Jesus Christ... HALF of all the people under their 30s.... just what are these people even thinking?

I had my 1st kid relatively "late" (between 32-35 ), age many people might consider young but by that point I was 100% sure I have had done and shared absolutely everything with my partner already, I fail to understand the happiness of going out, having a dinner, travelling with your spouse rinse-repeat for 30, 40, 50 years. 1 weekend enjoying a completely whole new world with our son gives us more joy and life energy than a whole year travelling, going out and experiencing "new" things as a couple.

Hope when these people find out its not too late.

hold signs and letters spelling out "The Children and Families Agency"

Government just think that by making PR campaign will just boost number of children.

Also anyone who who really think to take maternity or paternity leave don't expect to get their job as previously they had. That just adding more why couple hesitate to have a child in Japan.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-10/banker-s-lawsuit-exposes-japan-s-paternity-leave-problem

I don’t know. When you digest the state of the world today and look to the future, it seems reasonable not to have children.

What kind of world will they live in? Nuclear stand off with Putin and Russia, China’s intention to invade Taiwan and that coming war, government surveillance of everyone, the economic fraud and collusion of central banks to drive people down the economic ladder while propping up the wealthy, media dividing and enraging people to drive up ratings for advertising revenue, the trash heap of politics, walking on eggshells to not offend everyone, a dystopian existence.

It could be argued that having a child now is child abuse. The days of hope that children will have a better life than their parents are over.

One of the things that would put me off having children in Japan , is the ridiculous price of school uniforms

Yesterday I was at Ario mall and they were selling those "handoseru" school bags for ¥80,000, and that was the cheapest one!

Yes, many things in this place are a total scam but if you dont have kids, what are you going to do with your extra 80,000 yen?

Going to another trip, discover a new restaurant, buy yourself a car? By my late 20s I was already tired of all that. Imagine couples spending their whole lifes together without a HINT about how life really works, just adrift on the surface forever.. I witnessed this last month when we spent a whole day with my wife's female friend, her getting surprised every 5 min. by something extremely trivial regarding kids, but in her case she didnt choose not having a kid.. the deep sad smile whenever she hugged my son, I dont wish that to anyone.

This isn't a trend unique to Japan these days. More and more younger people around the world are prefering to remain either single or married but without the "burden" of children.

As sakurasaki pointed out, there are undoubtedly systemic problems embedded in the Japanese work culture that are part of the problem though I suspect nothing like the only one. Perhaps the first priority of the new agency should be an in depth independent research of all the factors both actual and perceived by the population to be dissuading them from having children (with a tightly proscribed completion time), then they will actually have some realistic idea of what needs tackling rather than relying on the uninformed opinions of bureaucrats and politicians.

Yeh, I know, this is Japan, never going to happen.

When children become able to take care of themselves and begin to understand the world and all its warts is the goal that shows parents that they have successfully done something correctly

Nothing quite like it

""By gender, it found that 53.0 percent of men and 45.6 percent of women are not interested in becoming parents, citing such reasons as the high cost and anxiety about Japan's future, the Osaka-based company said in late March.""

Yup, young people are watching what their friends and partners are going thru raising a child and want NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

Japan ahs made it so hard on young couple to enjoy having a child by putting so many restrictions and rules, FREEDOM IS PRECOUSE RIGHT to give up for a child.

Lots of people do not want to be parents, because they do not have the emotional mean to do it,and lots of women want to be mother,out of pressure from society,which is unhealthy for a child, children need extended support not only from their parents,but other around them,like Hillary say it take a village to raise a child,not the village idiot

If I had to sniff out where I hear the real desperation coming from in this article and comments, it's from the people with kids who seem...defensive about people who do not want kids. Are you threatened by us? lol. Does our independence, our freedom, nay, our not giving a damn about how wonderful your life must be somehow unnerve you? Like you have to justify your existence as being so superior to people who forego raising children. You don't have to...but you do!

Not everyone thinks like you do, but you sure do lay the pressure on thick, don't you? Join the Club...you must join the Club...*why don't you want to join the CLUB?!!" lol For every "I feel sorry for people without kids" comment, I could raise you ten "I feel sorry for those poor kids who have such awful parents". And don't get me started on how "great" it is to be facing a divorce, like what, one in every three Japanese now do?! lol.

"Live a life you love, use a god you trust...and don't take it all too seriously!" -Love and Rockets

Its better to interview 30+s

Watch the thirty year-old movie “Demolition Man.” Almost everything in the ridiculous science fiction comedy is true today. A world with video calls for meetings, including doctor appointments, no one shaking hands or touching because of a virus, self-driving cars, crime riddled streets. If you thought that would really be the future and not a comedy, you’d never want to bring up a child to live in that world.

And yet, here that world is now.

And if you think my depressing vision future is wrong, remember it a few years from now. Politicians and tin pot dictators have wreaked death and destruction over and over and over. The difference is that they have far more firepower to rain down. We’ll go back a century in infrastructure and life after the next war. And it is coming. It always does.

Your existence will be miserable a few years from now. Why bring a child into a miserable existence?

So glad we have all our kids. Hopefully at least of the blighters will looks after us when we are old and grey

House & garden agency equates to "Children and Families Agency" . . . .

This country is doing NOTHING to help the children of the future, and in fact cutting family benefits, and increasing financial burden constantly. Their answer? Well, instead of free education they are marking up the costs but saying some families will qualify for loan forgiveness later. Free daycare? Nope. Free school? Nope. Assisting in medical costs for pregnancies and birthing? Nope. Oh, but if they have three or more kids in Osaka they'll cut 100,000 yen (once).

But hey, who needs kids for the future or to pay to help improve the situation when they'll be able to use the money to buy and defend the increasing number of elderly with new defense weapons instead?

If I were still young, I'd be dead against having kids too in this day and age.

So much negativity here.. as if the world is ending tomorrow or something. Ever crossed your mind you're just probably watching too much tv, or being way too long connected?

Life is beautiful. The sunrise is a miracle. But taking part in this priceless experience of providing and following closely every single little step of human knowledge (aka raising a child) is just a whole new world, having your days-old son in your arms, feeding him while looking him in the eye makes you think about life in completely different ways, it's a whole different reality. Hence the sadness of witnessing a society where people prefer to cook alone and watch youtube videos in the futon than interacting with actual people, sharing happiness with a loved one and following every single step of your own future. There is just no life without kids no matter how hard you try to paint it differently.

I'm a happily married man in my early 40s, thrilled to be the father of a wonderful son. But I'm pretty sure that if you asked me when I was 24, I'd have said I wanted neither marriage or kids. I was having too much fun to understand that when people are in their 30s they might see things differently.

Another interesting poll would be to ask people who didn't want kids (and/or marriage) in their 20s but are now in their 40s and remain single and childless, if they have regrets. There are a lot of bitter and angry single people in their 40s out there, who now realize that it's pretty much too late and feel that they made a terrible mistake.

Totally understandable why they don’t want to have kids!

When I was thirty, in 1998 I didn't want kids either. I just want to go to a clubs and dance all night. I started getting into snowboarding too.

Fourteen years later, I was a father of three.

People change.

I don't think my opinion about life is worth much now, but its worth much more than it was when I was under thirty. To understand life, rather than asking people in questionnaires, its much better to observe them and see what they do. Amazon, Google etc. have become huge companies by tracking people and recording their behaviour. This produces far more useful info than asking people questions (market research etc) has ever done.

One of the things that would put me off having children in Japan , is the ridiculous price of school uniforms,

You think that's an issue, how about the cost of flying home to see grandparents? Could be more than $5000 for 4 plane tickets to go back home...

I hope they don’t want a pension either.

"Imagine couples spending their whole lifes together without a HINT about how life really works, just adrift on the surface forever."

One can always count on rabidly pro-natalist people to write and say stuff that offends. So married adults who are child-free don't understand how life really works and are going through their lives adrift on the surface? Why do some parents feel the need to pass judgement on others in this way?

For the first time in the long history of Japan or any other nation on earth for that matter, child-free women can live without being viciously stigmatized, ostracized, discriminated against, etc. I realize some people find this development disturbing and unsettling. But being born as a human on earth does not require you to reproduce in order to understand how life really works. What a ridiculous statement.

I hope they don’t want a pension either.

Young people don't pay pension premiums, they just save their own money.

@Finally rich

People got educated into thinking everyone needs everything all the time all at once (traveling, expensive keitai, brandmark clothing, a tuning car or whatever expensive ludicrous passion...) or else life is not worth living it seems.

I don't care what people think, being proud of 3 kids bringing joy everyday.

Point is nothing forces you to live in Japan forever. Think of your future. Do what is necessary.

I leave it to those who think they will live with old people only happily. Kids are the future. Always will. Good luck to all. But some will not have the right to complain.

I never wanted to get married until I did. I never wanted children until we did. Both of them were great choices.

Nurturing a human is the most rewarding thing you will ever do. It is infinity more rewarding than looking after a dog.

I agree with Finally Rich - children are, no doubt, a lot of hard work - there are things you have to give up completely, others that have to be curtailed, they can drive you up the wall at times, but the life of going partying with friends, eating out at restaurants, traveling, you've kind of been there and done it somewhere around your mid 30's. For all the hard work and sacrifices that are made, having kids brings something else to your life - it's amazing watching them grow up, all the cute, funny things they do, watching them learn, reach their milestones. For me having children brought meaning and purpose to my life, made me more responsible and with more empathy. I had no idea about any of that until I had them and I believe that side of the story is pretty much completely absent from the current zeitgeist. That said, I think it is understandable why many don't want to have children - our society only wants to talk about all of the negatives. And yes, some of those negatives are genuinely insurmountable obstacles for many given the way things are currently set up.

Why showing a disabled kid on photo? Are they thinking it is positive ?

So bad marketing.

Can you blame them ?

To each their own. Live and let live. Obviously, there is no “right” way to live one’s life when it comes to having children. There’s no reason to feel superior or inferior. Some couples want children and do, and some don’t or can’t. Some will have regrets and some won’t. And some who have them shouldn’t have.

Millennials and Generation Z never grew up and are terrified of adulthood.

Also, why get married and have children? Marriage has become temporary due to no-fault divorce and empty due to Marriage Deconstructionism.

Climate change, deglobalisation, high inflation, high interest rates, a second Cold War and then WW III. Not having kids is sensible. Why devote two decades to bringing up a child that is going to get conscripted, sent off to war and killed.

I wonder why this section has turned into a polemic battle of who writes better and proves their opinion right?

You cant impose your worldview on others.

you cant implant yourself into the other.

you cant claim your model of happiness is ultimate happiness

you simply dont know, in the end, is it really that great to get married and have children.

and. You are not the Lord Almighty to judge what is best for the other at the current date and time, with all their circumstances and mental state, with all their abilities and disabilities, capabilities and possibilities and whatsnot.

having a happy family dekkai shiawase desu not many will have or want or can. And that’s okay.

Beware! Caution! A woman of child-bearing age? Not interested in having kids? Beware! Caution. When a woman of child-bearing age who has not given birth to a child grows quite old, she becomes an old maid. I have six sisters. Five of them married early and had happy families. The one who did not marry became an old maid. When spoken to, she would laugh out loud or, more often than not, she would sing.

In an extremely over-populated country already and a place where children suffer terribly, who can blame them.

One of the things that would put me off having children in Japan , is the ridiculous price of school uniforms,

Balance the cost of purchasing clothes and you will find that overall the uniforms are cheaper.

I was having too much fun to understand that when people are in their 30s they might see things differently.

Exactly. Thing is, I guess after you turn 30 there is nothing really "new" and meaningful to fulfill your life. A ticket to a 100 countries or a 1000 gold bars cant buy you the happiness of celebrating every little step, the first time the baby rolls over in the bed, first time he supports his own head, follows you with the eyes, the daily hard exercise the baby does trying to crawl somewhere, the first solid meal, the first everything, daily joy you cant get by getting a pet or something.

People got educated into thinking everyone needs everything all the time all at once (traveling, expensive keitai, brandmark clothing, a tuning car or whatever expensive ludicrous passion...) or else life is not worth living it seems.

The saddest part is that these people have absolutely no idea...

For me having children brought meaning and purpose to my life, made me more responsible and with more empathy.

Just imagine if all these bitter, mean people out there had a partner, a happy child at home. But again, not everyone deserves or even want to have kids. Being born unwanted without parents to give you the minimum love and attention is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Just check the stats, lots of problems come from broken homes. In those cases, people would be much better off without kids. No offspring, bad/selfish behaviour would also stop there. Bad for the people who will be around these kind of people, but better for the children that will never be abused or neglected.

@jansob1 "Why would anyone want to bring kids into poverty and stagnation?" Why do the poorest countries have the highest birthrates?

Some seem to think a country with a low birth rate is a good thing. Very naive!

Young people don't pay pension premiums, they just save their own money.

True. A lot are not paying into the system. The amounts are ridiculous relative to what they earning. A lot of freeters out there.

Well said @Eastman

It's up to the individual, sure. Yet, I think we started having our kids too late (mid 30s). I wish I'd of done it in my 20s. There is something about having a kid that makes you grow up and face reality. And, it's a happy one at that (most of the time).

I'm sure many of the reasons above are related to the way those under 30 feel, but all the colleagues I know under 30 are pretty selfish and just like their life the way it is. They buy what they want, play games, and try not to stir the pot.

You think that's an issue, how about the cost of flying home to see grandparents? Could be more than $5000 for 4 plane tickets to go back home...

This is the biggest expense by far.

Obviously young people are smart enough to realize that ITS TOO EXPENSIVE TO HAVE CHILDREN IN JAPAN. And until the government gets this message through their super rich polititians heads and deal with the cost of raising kids it will only get worse.

@finally rich...

I am about to have my first kid, really looking forward to those things you talk about.

As for young people not wanting to have kids here, I can't blame them. The system is rigged against parents. Even now I'm feeling attacked. Baby isn't born yet.

Half of unmarried people under 30 in Japan do not want kids . . .

If that's really true, then Japan had better erect their own version of the Statue of Liberty (Give me your poor, your unwanted, etc. . . . ) in Tokyo Harbor and start welcoming foreigners from all over the globe to make up for the shortfall.

You think that's an issue, how about the cost of flying home to see grandparents? Could be more than $5000 for 4 plane tickets to go back home...

If you have to fly back to Europe, you'll be doing pretty well to get a family of four back there for $5000 this year. If you are one of the many that have little choice but to fly back in the August holidays it could be getting toward double that price!

This is the biggest expense by far.

Don't count on it - up until recently we were having to pay 120K a month for 2 children in nursery. Thankfully it's a lot less now.

children need extended support not only from their parents, but other around them, like Hillary say it take a village to raise a child,

In my experience, in Japan there isn't much support from anyone else. My parents would like nothing more than to look after my kids for a few hours - "we'll take care of them tonight, you two go out and have a break - go out and enjoy yourselves!" kind of thing. People babysit, either your family or close friends for a bit of pocket money, but there really doesn't seem to be much of that going on in Japan. None of my wife's family has ever offered to babysit for us, even for an hour. Not once. They don't even hang around for more than 10 minutes when they visit. For many Japanese, kids are little more than an annoying nuisance that should be seen and not heard. If you have kids in Japan, you are on your own.

@Nihon Tora So true , very little support. They don't understand that notion of helping who you can, even your own family.

Only my mother in law would ever help while aunts, uncles, cousins...never got involved in sharing the general burden.

I still well believe whatever you think that most people who had no child will not understand what being in charge means.

Watching the great collapse live is a treat for me about my general learning from experiments. I really doubt anything good will come from it and it is only the beginning.

Half of unmarried people under 30 in Japan do not want kids: survey

Fabulous.

So....half of the unmarried people under 30, DO want kids?

Mind blowing.

Half of the population are men and half are female.

Half of a cookie is half and the other half is another half.........

No new information has been given here!!!!

I have four grown children and, to date, four grandchildren. That does not entitle me to feel morally superior to some of the commentators here, though I do think: Thank goodness that they, being so happily wrapped up in themselves and so very smug, will not become parents.

Why showing a disabled kid on photo? Are they thinking it is positive ?

Yes, the photo is quite provocative. But the authors know this topic much deeper than narrow-minded commentators. A sick child, most often genetically, falls on the parents unexpectedly. SMA myodystrophy Duchenne cystic fibrosis...And parents must carry this cross until these children die..... There is no more terrible retribution for the desire to have children! But you're talking about some kind of cost of a school uniform ....As long as you are able to pay for the uniform and for the university, you should be happy.

The post WWII generation who trandformed Japan from economic ruins to an economic powerhouse WHILE having and raising children must be turning in thier graves.

My life would have been so much emptier without my wife and children, but I do not suppose to try to tell others how to live.

A life-long friend, born to Holocaust survivors, decided not to have children, while his sister chose to have a family. My observation is that he tries to enjoy life, while continually living with the after effects of trauma. Is anyone qualified to tell them how to live their lives? Is it not enough just to be their friend?

Not all of us post-WWII people are dead. But, thanks for being a concerned citizen.

The government is worried about their own survival. They want people to have kids, that is the only way they survive taxing the hell out of people as they come into the work force and exist it.

The problem is that the government doesn't give any incentives for establishing families. On the contrary, establishing a family means more expenses. There is zero governmental support. Life in Japan is already expensive, no one would willingly want to make additional debts.

Too small of a sample size to be considered valid. They are reporting errors as facts. The issue is that people aren't being educated on how to handle children on the budgets they currently survive on. Inflation isn't helping but people are doing it. It will never be a priority as long as people believe they can live forever with no offspring and not suffer for it.

I don't blame them

Raising children is difficult a thing as anything in life. In fact, from my own experience, it is the single hardest thing to do.

But, it also creates the single greatest emotion any living thing on earth can experience, and that is the unrequited feeling of love toward someone, with a feeling something is more important than yourself. That love overcomes the difficulties, but one must have a child to have this incredible experience.

Japan, I do believe, is a difficult place to have children. The culture isn't conducive to dreams of the future and rules make her an unloving country, stifling emotion to a degree one can see an apathy and dullness in her people.

I'm not saying everyone is devoid of love, happiness and emotion, but the underlying state of society in Japan from her education system to the salary man ways, makes for a country not all that attractive to raise babies, and the people themselves are not happy enough with their lives to want children.

People need to feel the emotion of love and be happy with idea of having children, and it isn't a country where that exists ubiquitously. Lots of reasons for it, but they're missing out the best part of life, the feeling of love, and it extends to having children, the most loving of humankind's experiences.

Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what makes people think raising a child is a "very hard" task.

As soon as my wife got pregnant I made a point of working 3, 4 days/week maximum.

Everything has been pretty smooth, easy, fulfilling and not expensive at all, and we've been raising our son completely by ourselves after moving out of wife's parents house.

With grandpa and grandma around things would be even easier I guess.

The "very hard" estatement probably comes from families that cannot afford to have the bread-winner at home half the week.

But yes, its very rewarding.

Just yesterday 10:30am, we went to our jidoukan to join the morning activities with other kids, then we went to the mall to buy stuff for our home, stopped by a local restaurant to have a burger and headed home. In the middle of a weekday.

Why Japan doesnt go study the Scandinavian work culture? Work 5 enjoy 2 is just insane.

The future belongs to those who show up for it.

@Exexalien

So you think I stated that to despise disabled persons or kids.

No. Do you mean you agree to spur the desire to have kids on a photo is to show you 'll get a disabled kid ? That is the only thing meant. Stop making judgmental opinions on people you don't know.

One doesn't attract a cat with a carrot or a rabbit with meat...simple.

Respecting everyone is essential, and media are for a showing purpose when using a photo. Photos of Japanese people are rarely shot with attractiveness in mind (think about emperor photos).

People change.

Indeed.

I never wanted to have kids...then I had one...

Best experience of my life - you get to be a kiddo with your kiddo...the joy of discovery...I had my son relatively late in life (40)...and spoiled him rotten...but damn did we have a lot of fun...

I would come home from work - his mother was - "go take care of our kiddo"...I need some space...we'd go play...one day...playing hide-and-seek - I hid in the same place...2 times per interval...so he got used to looking for me...then I didn't...then I did...when he found me...in the same place - he had this big smile on his face - he got it - he understood the trick I'd played on him...my kiddo has a sense of humor...

You can't put a price on such an experience...

I think even if the world is going to hell...I'd like to think I've played a small part in making a young man's life enjoyable...

That is enough for me...

If they are unmarried of course they do not want kids.

I think that the Japanese should try being more open to children because they are not doing well with how they keep being single. They are becoming people who are struggling with growing their population. They are an inventive country but they are losing that touch because the next generation is lacking in pure numbers.

Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what makes people think raising a child is a "very hard" task.

Obviously you have no idea because you have a very limited viewpoint.

I'm a single ex-pat dad in Japan.

Believe it, it was very, very hard to raise two kids, in Japan.