Over the past couple of months, this blog has explored a variety of issues relating to the perceptions of single people, the massive discrimination against singles in terms of financial breaks for married people, growing divorce rates as young adults charge head-first into committed relationships, and finally, the pressures to find committed romantic relationships throughout one’s college career. Throughout each of these blog posts, the emphasis has been placed on these issues as they pertain to the United States. However, the United States is certainly not the only nation to which these issues are relevant; many other nations around the globe face very similar issues, but interestingly have entirely different consequences.
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| Japanese Flag- Flickr |
Of particular interest are a couple of nations in Asia, specifically Japan. In many nations of Asia, marriage has been a long-withstanding tradition that is expected of almost all youth, to an extent much greater than the United States, or other countries around the world. The Huffington Post and The Global Times describe in detail some of the harsh standards young students of Asian parents face to get married and starting a family early in life. However, this trend is on the decline in Asia just as it is anywhere else on the map, and can be seen quite easily when analyzing marriage rates in each country. For instance, in Japan the proportion of women in the population who have never been married by the age of 34 has raised from 7.2% in 1970 to a staggering 34.5% in 2010. The difference for men is even more pronounced, from 11.7% in 1970 to 47.3% in 2010. Even for individuals above the age of 50, a relatively high proportion of individuals have never been married (10.6% of women and 20.1% of men).
One of the reasons for such high proportions of never-married individuals may be much higher standards for committing to marriages. While 53% of married couples of the United States file for divorce, in Japan only 20%-30% of married couples file for divorce, with similar statistics in other asian countries. The implications of these statistics are not necessarily that people are better at making commitments, but that even more people are not bothering to try.
The high proportions of never-married individuals may be attributed to changing attitudes regarding women in Asian societies. According to The Economist, more and more women are rejecting the social norms of marriage in favor of a single lifestyle to put forward alternative, more progressive priorities. As more women pursue careers, juggling a full-time job, as well as being expected to care for a family can be extremely demanding. The Economist article goes on to generalize that a Japanese women with a full-time job can spend an additional 30 hours a week dedicated to housework. These intense (and perhaps unfair) time commitments involved in marriage may significantly contribute to Japanese women having some of the most pessimistic attitudes regarding marriage in the world. Plus, now that more women are well-educated and financially independent, more are able to pursue an alternative lifestyle that does not involve a traditional marriage.
While the falls in marriage rates in Japan might be interpreted as a positive effect of increased freedom and liberties for women, it has negative consequences as well, contributing to a dramatic fall in birth-rates in Japan. According to The Washington Post, the rate of Japan’s population rate of increase has been decreasing since 1950, but just this year Japan’s actual population has declined. The population of Japan was 128 million in 2010, and is 127 million now. And this population is expected to continue to decline for time to come.
The proportions of single people have been on the rise not only in the United States, but nearly every nation on the globe. The falling marriage rates are the results of different factors in different countries, and have different effects as well. In the case of Japan, should the dramatically lowered marriage rates be celebrated for the independence of women compared to old traditions, or feared for not being able to sustain the Japanese population?
