Japan Data
Society
Family
Work
Aug 29, 2025
A survey in Japan found that only around 40% of people in their twenties want to have children due to concerns over money and their parenting ability.
Economic Concerns Limit Wish for Children
A survey in Japan found that only around 40% of people in their twenties said that they would like to have children, with the total falling for the second successive year. The survey was conducted online in April 2025 by the human-resource services provider Mynavi. A total of 2,930 valid responses were received from unmarried men and women without children.
Among respondents who have never been married, 39.7% in their twenties and 30.8% in their thirties said that they would like to have children. For those in their twenties, this was a decline of 8.4 percentage points compared to the 2023 survey.
When asked to explain why they did not want to have children (with multiple answers allowed), the most common reasons for people in their twenties were the expense of raising children and a lack of confidence in their ability to raise a child, mentioned by 41.1% and 40.7% of the respondents, respectively. A representative from Mynavi saw the results as an indication that “economic insecurity may be limiting the desire to have children.”
The survey also asked unmarried respondents about their views on marriage. The results show that 48.0% of people in their twenties, 38.9% of those in their thirties, 27.7% of those in their forties, and 23.2% of those in their fifties view marriage as something they consider personally necessary. The percentages for those in their twenties and thirties were more than 10 percentage points lower than the results in 2022, indicating a significant shift in attitudes toward marriage.
Data Sources
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)
marriage
children
AloJapan.com