Part 1: 1/3 of Adults Unmarried - Sign of the Times?
A statistic was just released earlier this month by the Japan Times that 1/3 of Japan’s Adults under 50 have never married. Even more shocking is that most claim they’ve not dated either. That’s 34% unmarried but also not pursuing a romantic relationship!
The reason? A waste of time and money, with nearly 20% of men and women in their 20’s citing these reasons for their singleness. While nearly half of the sample size still maintain that they’d like to be married “someday”, there seems to be minimal excitement towards embarking on that path.
Is this a sign of the times? In the west the statistics may not be quite so extreme, but it does seem to be trending this way. Many reports, such as this post from The Hill claim similar stats. Yes, almost half desire marriage eventually; one still can’t help wonder what is causing the downtrend of young adults desiring marriage less and less.
Most studies merely hint at some of the possible causes, which span across a broad range of reasons (money, values, tradition, etc.). An obvious statement on the topic is that the “benefit” of getting married must certainly be struggling. After all, isn’t the benefit of any given activity or decision often the rationale for doing it in the first place? The value just isn’t there. At least, not in the eyes of these surveyed individuals.
For example, the reason given in the original survey mentioned in the Japan Times article: time and money. Reading between the lines here, what respondents are really saying is that a marriage partner (or finding one) isn’t worth their time and money.
The bottom line is that marriage rates are dropping and the age to be married is rising. One can only surmise that the value of marriage is degrading.
Sadly, this is not all that surprising. If the portrayal of “life” from married couples is all too often negative, depressing, boring, or heartbreaking, you could hardly argue the case for avoiding it. Compound this view on marriage with the reality of economics for many young adults, racked with college debt, rising inflation and housing costs. The conclusion becomes a straight risk v. reward decision. Changing societal norms on dating and romantic relationships cause many adults to choose non-committed relationships over long-term marriage.
For us, as obviously huge advocates of marriage, this is disappointing to see. Plainly, just because some people get marriage “wrong” doesn’t mean it should be broadly thrown out altogether. Our mission is to change this narrative and spotlight the amazing-ness of marriage, and HOW you can create and maintain a better marriage for yourself and your spouse. We believe firmly that a happy, healthy, committed relationship (in marriage) is by far the best way to experience love, understand true joy, and live a fulfilled life (alongside pursuing Christ)!
Note: We’ll come back next week with a response and counterpoint to these marriage views, so be sure to check that out!