The state study showed that the Japanese population favours dating apps, as one in four married adults under the age of 40 found a partner online.
The study took place in July as part of the Japanese government’s efforts to find ways to help the younger generation to marry and have children. This comes as the rise in the number of unmarried people has become a major cause of the falling birth rate.
In an online survey of 20,000 men and women aged 15 to 39 nationwide, 25.1 per cent of respondents who married in the past five years said dating apps gave them the opportunity to meet someone whose relationship eventually led to marriage.
On the other hand, individuals who met their spouses at work or through work-related activities accounted for 20.5 per cent. 9.9 per cent met at school, 9.1 per cent through friends or siblings and 5.2 per cent at parties or other social events. According to the survey, 56.8 per cent of married people said they had experience using dating apps, compared to 26.8 per cent of unmarried people.
Dating apps are particularly popular among people in their 20s. Therefore, people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s value dating apps as a tool for prioritising cost and time efficiency, according to an interim report from the Children and Families Agency.
Japan has seen the number of couples getting married in 2023 fall below 500,000 for the first time in 90 years to 474,717, the lowest number since World War II.
