As couples around the world prepare to celebrate their love on Valentine’s Day, Japan is grappling with more evidence that its citizens have lost the spark in the bedroom.
A new survey by the Japan family planning association found that nearly half of married couples had not had sex for more than a month and did not expect that to change in the near future – the association’s definition of a “sexless” marriage.
The survey interviewed 3,000 people aged between 16 and 49, and received 1,200 responses, according to the Guardian. Nearly half—47.2 percent—of married men and women said they didn’t have sex in their marriages, which is an increase of 2.6 per cent after the last 2014 survey. The first survey in 2004 recorded that just 31.9 per cent of married couples were sex-free, which means that 15 per cent more couples don’t have sex just 13 years later.
Japan has one of the world’s oldest populations: more than a quarter of people are over 65, and for the last six years, sales of adult diapers have outpaced the number of baby diapers sold in Japan. And not enough Japanese babies are being born: a Doomsday Clock has even been created that shows when Japan’s population will disappear.
The findings point to an increasing tendency of marriages ending up as sexless unions and contradict the perception people have about sex in Japan where a large amount of porn is produced.
