Japan to stop labeling people unmarried at 50 as “lifelong singles”
Main Points:
The government will no longer use the term “lifelong singles” as a label for people who have not married by age 50, deeming the term inaccurate as Japanese are increasingly tying the knot later in life, officials said Thursday.
The label has been used in annual white papers and statistics on the grounds that the fertility rate of women falls significantly when they enter their 50s.
In 2015, the proportion of people who had not married by age 50 hit a record 23.37 percent for men, or around one in every four men, and a record 14.06 percent for women, or one in every seven women, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Meanwhile, the country’s average marriage age has continued to rise, standing at 31.1 for men and 29.4 for women in 2015.
An official at major Japanese matchmaking agency Zwei Co., believes the idea that marriage is something for young people is becoming outdated, adding the agency sees more than 300 registered members marry at 50 or older every year.
Experts have attributed the rising trend in the rate of unmarried people at 50 to the lack of social pressure to wed and the increasing prevalence of people employed on a temporary basis, leaving them concerned that they are unable to support a family.
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