Nearly Half Japan's Millennials Are Virgins

With an aging generation of baby boomers weighing down what is already the world's oldest population, Japan has for years been trying to encourage its dwindle number of young people to marry and have children. A new government survey suggests that the country's millennials are not only in no hurry to marry, but apparently aren't in any rush to do the deed. To wit, a whopping 44% of women and 42% of men, amounting to nearly half of the country's millennial singles ages 18 to 34, say they are still virgin. But the percentage of these singles who say they hope to marry in the future is close to 90%.

"People marry later or stay single for life, contributing to the nation's low birthrate," the head researcher says. "They want to tie the knot eventually, but they tend to put it off as they have gaps between their ideals and the reality."