Posted on September 30, 2019

The Cautionary Tale of Japan’s “Sex Recession”

Lucy Craft, CBS News, September 27, 2019

All around the world, young people are having less sex than previous generations. At the forefront of the so-called global “sex recession” is Japan, which has one of the lowest fertility rates on Earth, and it could serve as a cautionary tale for the U.S. and other industrialized countries.

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A review of Japan’s National Fertility Survey reveals virginity is on the rise; one out of every 10 Japanese men in their 30s is still a virgin. That puts Japan’s virginity rate well ahead of that of other industrialized nations.

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For Japan, already well into an unprecedented population decline, the sex drought is more bad news. If current trends hold, Japan’s population will collapse by more than half over the next century.

The drop in both sex and births is often blamed are long working hours, too much time spent online, and the Japanese fetish for digital companionship, which manifests itself in the popularity of robots and holographic “partners.”

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Researchers have already warned that this problem isn’t unique to Japan, and the U.S. could be next.

[Editor’s Note: A 35-minute video from CBS, “Replacing Humans: Robots Among Us,” accompanies the original article.]