Japanese too stressed for sex: Survey

Bad news for Japan's already sluggish birth rate. A new survey conducted by the Japan Family Planning Association shows that most Japanese are too stressed to think of making babies.

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A record 39.7 percent of Japanese citizens ages 16-49 have not had sex for over a month. This is up by 5% from two years ago. Among married couples, the rate was still staggeringly high - 34.6 percent.

According to Dr. Kunio Kitamura, the family planning association's director:

This is very bad news for the country's birth rate, and something the government needs to look into urgently.

The situation is dismal. My research shows that if you don't have sex for a month, you probably won't for a year.

The survey comes at a time when there is alarm over Japan's faltering birth rate. The birth rate fell in 2005 to a record low 1.26 births in an average woman's lifetime. This drop has raised concerns over impeding tax revenue shortfalls and labor shortages.

Kitamura cites the declining birthrate to stress in modern Japanese life. A decline in physical communication skills was also cited as a factor, with the Japanese preferring online interactions over face to face communication.

The association handed out the survey forms to 2,713 randomly selected people, out of which 1409 people (or, about 50%) responded. The association also did not give a margin of error.

This survey is only the latest to rank the Japanese poorly when it comes to sex. Japan came in last among 29 other countries in a study of sexual satisfaction published by the University of Chicago last year, with a mere 25.7 percent of lovers expressing satisfaction in bed. A similar study by condom manufacturer Durex also placed Japan last on its study. The Durex study concluded that the Japanese were having sex a mere 45 times a year, compared to a global average of 103.

Source:MSNBC