Survey Finds More Young Japanese Looking for Love

Three in Four Want to Get Married

A Japanese survey on love and marriage aimed at young people who turned 20 in the year leading up to Coming of Age Day on January 12, 2026, found that 55.5% are “actively seeking a partner of the opposite sex”.

The marriage partner introduction service O-net held the online survey in November 2025, receiving 274 responses in total (157 from men and 117 from women).

The results showed that 61.1% of young men and 47.9% of young women were actively looking to date someone of the opposite sex. This is the second year in a row that the overall number has increased and O-net hypothesizes that young people “may be more proactive in dating as a reaction to having been restricted from contact with others during their adolescence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Asked about previous relationships, 54.8% of young men and 53.0% of young women said they had dated someone in the past, accounting for 54.0% overall. In total, 34.3% stated they were currently in a relationship with someone of the opposite sex, up 6.5 percentage points from the previous year, with year-on-year increases seen for both men (36.9%) and women (30.8%).

Overall, 75.6% of respondents either “want to get married soon” or “want to get married one day,” an increase from the previous year, when the lowest ever result was recorded for the survey. Around 10% of young men and women, however, held negative views about marriage.

Among the respondents who wished to get married either soon or at some point in the future, 67.7% said they “want” to have children after marriage. This was the highest figure of the last decade and a breakdown showed 74.2% for young men and 58.4% for young women.

Data Sources

• Survey on 2026 new adults’ attitudes toward love and marriage (Japanese) from O-net.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)