Japan study reveals 2 in 3 married couples ‘nearly sexless’ or no longer have sex, amid falling birth rates

Some 4,000 married people aged between 20 and 59 took part in the study, in which over half of respondents said they had good or ‘very good’ ties with their partners

Reasons cited by respondents included a lack of interest after a child was born, work exhaustion and that sex was ‘bothersome’

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Two geishas wearing traditional Japanese kimono among Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Japan’s population, already in clear decline, is predicted to contract to 104.69 million in 2050. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:00pm, 2 Feb 2024Updated: 1:24pm, 2 Feb 2024

A study in Japan has found that more than 68 per cent of marriages in the country are completely sexless or virtually devoid of a physical element, underlining the problems the government faces in reversing the nation’s falling birth rate.

The report complements earlier research that points in the same direction, with Kunio Kitamura, director of the Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA), telling This Week in Asia that “this trend towards sexlessness is not going to stop”.

The latest study was conducted by Tokyo-based web design and internet advertising agency Raison d’être, with 4,000 married people aged between 20 and 59 answering questions about their sex lives. Across all age groups, 43.9 per cent were in sexless marriages, while 24.3 per cent said their marriages were “nearly sexless”.

About half of married women in their 20s were in sexless or nearly sexless unions, rising to 67.8 per cent among women in their 30s. Some 53.4 per cent of men in their 20s say they have no or very little sex in their marriages, rising to 71.4 per cent for men in their 30s.

Among the oldest demographic, some 78 per cent of women in their 50s said they were in sexless or very nearly sexless marriages, along with 81 per cent of men in the same age bracket.

But 57 per cent of respondents who said they were in sexless or virtually sexless marriages also revealed that their relationship with their spouse was either good or very good.

A couple takes pictures of Christmas-themed illuminated trees in Tokyo on December 24, 2020. Photo: AFP

The Raison d’être study did not examine the reasons married couples in Japan are not having sex, but repeated studies by the Japan Family Planning Association over the last 20 years have shed light on the issue, Kitamura said.