About 1 in 4 young adults in Japan are not having sex, a recent study has found.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Tokyo, examined data on heterosexual inexperience of Japanese adults between the ages of 18 and 39, from seven rounds of the National Fertility Survey of Japan between 1987 and 2015.
Based on the findings, the proportion of both men and women who never had heterosexual vaginal sex rose from 20% and 21.7% respectively in 1992 to 25.8% and 24.6% in 2015.
Men with low income, unemployed or working part-time, or had temporary jobs were also found to have had a higher likelihood of being sexually inexperienced.
It was also noted that about 1 in 10 Japanese adults in their 30s did not report having sex in 2015. Such sexual inactivity is significantly higher than those from the U.K., U.S., and Australia, which is just around 1-5% for adults in or around their 30s.
Public health researcher Dr. Peter Ueda, one of the study’s authors, highlighted that their findings back earlier reports on high virginity rates among Japanese young adults with evidence, CNN reports.
He further stated that the results provide better insight into the age and socioeconomic status of people who have never had sex.
“Sexual inactivity or inexperience, whether voluntary or not, should not be exoticized, ridiculed or necessarily considered a concern for everyone,” Ueda was quoted as saying.
“More research is needed on reasons for sexual inactivity and how mating market dynamics might be evolving due to online dating, shifting expectations in romantic and sexual relationships, and changing values, lifestyles and labor market trends.”
Researchers estimated that about 1 in 20 people between the ages of 30 and 39 who reported no heterosexual intercourse, might have had same-sex intercourse. The report also assumed that all married couples have had sex.
