Sex drought strikes Japanese singletons

MORE than forty per cent of young single people in Japan are virgins, according to a new study that highlights concerns about the country’s demographic challenges.

Japan already suffers from the world’s oldest population and a shrinking birthrate, with the government struggling to incentivise marriage and parenthood.

Now a survey of unmarried people aged 18 to 34 found that around 42 per cent of men and 44.2 per cent of single women had never had sex. The study was carried out by Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research every five years.

The new data indicate that Japanese men and women appear to be growing further apart.

The last time the study was conducted in 2010, 36.2 per cent of men and 38.7 per cent of women in the 18-34 age bracket said they were virgins.