TOKYO -- The number of Japanese couples who tied the knot last year likely fell below 500,000 for the first time in 90 years, as more people struggled to find their soulmate during the pandemic and financial concerns have weighed heavy on young people's minds.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will publish marriage data for 2023 late this month. When excluding foreign couples, the data is expected to show a 5.8% decrease from the previous year to 476,000 marriages, according to estimates by Takumi Fujinami, a researcher at the Japan Research Institute. The number is approximately 200,000 fewer than 10 years ago.
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