Change in Opportunities for Meeting a Partner and the Marriage Decline in Japan

Miho Iwasawa, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan
Fusami Mita, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan

We focus on how the trend in meeting places for married couples is related to the marriage decline in Japan. Using data from the Japanese National Fertility Surveys, we show the extent to which changes in the incidence of each type of meeting have contributed to the decline in the first marriage rate since the 1970s. The results indicate that the decrease can be attributed to the drop in the number of arranged marriages (including those introduced by relatives and superiors) which accounts for over 50 percent of the decrease, and to the drop in the number of marriages at work or through collogues which accounts for nearly 40 percent of the decrease. These findings reveal that the supply side of shrinking opportunities for partner choice are the significant factors behind the rising proportion of never-married, and the work-life balance policy would be required for promoting personal networking.