Awareness Survey of 18-Year-OldsResults of 3rd and 4th installments announced

The results of the third installment of the Awareness Survey of 18-Year-Olds, launched by The Nippon Foundation in October 2018, were announced on November 11, 2018. The theme was “Love and Marriage,” and the survey found that roughly three in four 18-year-olds want to marry and have children, suggesting a trend in a different direction from the tendency toward later marriage and fewer children seen in recent years. Other findings included the fact that roughly half have been in a “relationship,” and that while schools were overwhelmingly the most popular place for meeting a girlfriend/boyfriend, 1 in 10 had met their partner through social media.

The results of the fourth installment, on the theme of “Work” and announced on November 21, 2018, showed that 42.6% of 18-year-olds do not want to work beyond the age of 65, which runs counter to a recent government initiative to raise the retirement age to 70. It also found that 53.0% of 18-year-olds want to give priority to their private lives as opposed to work, while 20.3% want to give priority to work, and the largest portion (27.0%) want to work in a major city in Japan.

Survey 3. Love and Marriage (Results announced on November 11, 2018)

Findings: 55.5% of respondents have been in a relationship.

79.3% of respondents are not currently in a relationship

Of those respondents, 64.8% want a boyfriend/girlfriend vs. 35.2% who do not.
Top reasons for wanting a boyfriend/girlfriend (among respondents not currently in a relationship; multiple responses allowed):

74.9% of respondents want to marry in the future, vs. 25.1% who do not.

Top reasons for wanting to marry (free answers, roughly categorized):

Top reasons for not wanting to marry (free answers, roughly categorized):

• Prefer living alone / Do not want to be tied down
• Want to spend money and time on myself
• Burdensome
• Not interested / Do not feel marriage is necessary

78.6% of respondents want to have children.

Survey 4. Work (Results announced on November 21, 2018)

Findings: 58.3% of respondents have a field in which they want to work.

27.0% of respondents want to work in a major city in Japan

Of all respondents, those who want to work in:

• A major city in Japan – 27.0%
• A regional city in Japan – 23.4%
• Overseas – 4.6%
• A rural area of Japan – 3.8%
• No preference – 26.3%
• Do not know – 15.0%

53.0% want to give priority to their private lives as opposed to work, vs. 20.3% who want to give priority to work.

30.3% want to work in/at a designated place/time

Of all respondents, those who:

• Want to work in/at an office or other designated place at a designated time – 30.3%
• Do not want to be tied to a designated place/time (want to work from home, flexible schedule, etc.) – 26.4%
• No preference – 23.1%
• Do not know – 20.3%

More respondents (34.4%) want to work for a one employer until retirement than do not (25.3%)

42.6% of respondents do not want to work beyond the age of 65.

Of all respondents, 42.6% do not want to work beyond the age of 65, vs. 28.1% who want to work until age 70 or longer.
Respondents who want to work until the age of:

• Less than 65 – 19.0%
• 65 – 23.6%
• 70 – 13.8%
• 75 – 4.0%
• 80 or higher – 10.3%
• Do not know – 29.4%