Young people in Japan are more pessimistic about their personal prospects and the future of their country – Survey
By Nazarul Islam | USA
A new survey, published in The Japan Times, suggests that young people in Japan are more pessimistic about their personal prospects and the future of their country. This reflects a trend that echoes a wider social pattern of withdrawal and low expectation among the nation’s youth.
Japan’s Awareness Survey Foundation (NFA) has brought to light a survey of the country’s 18-Year-Olds, which polled 1,000 respondents aged 17 to 19 across Japan, U.S, China, South Korea, UK and India, found that only about 16% of Japanese respondents believed their country’s future would improve, the lowest among all those surveyed.
Young people in Japan believe that factors such as gender, nationality or disability could limit their success. The nation recorded the lowest percentage of respondents who saw marriage and having children as desirable, at around 60 years.
Furthermore, across Japan, South Korea and China, respondents pointed to declining birth rates and aging populations as the most pressing national challenges. These factors may be contributing to the sense of uncertainty among youth population in the country.
Pessimism among the young Japanese generation—often referred to as a “low-desire society”—has been driven by decades of economic stagnation, a rigid social hierarchy, and a growing sense of powerlessness regarding the future.
Again, recent surveys show that Japanese youth report the lowest levels of optimism compared to their peers in other major economies, with only 15–16% believing their country’s future will improve.
Core Drivers of Pessimism
Economic Stagnation & the “Lost Decades:
Young people have lived their entire lives during a period of low growth and stagnant wages. This has led to “financial insecurity,” particularly due to the rise of low-paid, non-regular employment that lacks stability and benefits.
The “Silver Democracy”:
Japan’s rapidly aging population has created a political and social environment that prioritizes the needs of the elderly. Young people often feel they have little influence on a government dominated by older generations and feel burdened by the future cost of supporting an aging society.
Low “Self-Efficacy”:
Many Japanese youth feel their personal actions cannot change society. Only 45.8% believe they can make a difference, significantly lower than in countries like India (80.6%) or the U.S. (65.6%).
High Cost of Traditional Success: The perceived costs of “standard” life goals—such as buying a house, marriage, or raising children—are seen as overwhelming stressors rather than sources of happiness. This has resulted in many choosing to “opt out” of these pursuits entirely.
Educational & Social Pressure: High tuition fees, significant student debt, and a culture of extreme social conformity create a sense of being “trapped” within rigid systems.
Emerging Responses: “Low Desire” as a Survival Strategy
Rather than fighting these macro-trends, many in the younger generation have adopted a minimalist, risk-averse lifestyle:
Reduced Materialism: A pivot away from status symbols like cars and luxury goods toward “spiritual richness” and simple routines.
Social Withdrawal: A trend of prioritizing calm, uneventful days and digital entertainment over high-stakes career or social competition.
Quiet Defiance:
While often labeled as “apathetic,” some youth are turning toward grassroots movements for specific causes like climate change, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights, where they feel they can have more immediate impact.
Currently, higher number of young people in Japan are living with low expectations for themselves and their country when compared with their peers in five other nations, a new
Research has established that 1,000 people between the ages of 17 and 19 in Japan, the U.S., China, South Korea, the U.K. and India — have discovered that only around 16% of Japanese respondents said that they believed that the future of their country would improve.
This was the lowest rate among the participating countries, with India and China seeing the highest percentage of people believing that to be the case, at around 62% and 55% respectively. South Korea (23.5%), the U.S. (30.8%) and the U.K. (34%) all ranked above Japan.
A similar sense of pessimism was seen in how youths in Japan viewed their own future, with only around 62% of respondents saying that they had a dream for their future, the lowest among all participating countries. This is more than 20 points lower than counterparts in India — the highest ranked — of whom approximately 86% said that to be the case
This stood true across the board for similar questions, with the lowest percentage of Japanese youths agreeing with statements such as “I have something I can be absorbed in, such as study, work, hobbies, etc.” and “I am needed by others.”
Such attitudes have bled into how young people in Japan approach education and jobs. When asked what they prioritized the most as reasons for studying in school, only around 2% of respondents in the other five countries answered to not have anything in particular; Japan was an outlier in that nearly 20% chose the same answer.
The same trend was seen for questions that asked what qualities of a job were considered important when choosing one and what their desired occupations were; a significantly higher proportion of Japanese respondents answered “none in particular.”
Compared with the other countries, more people in Japan also thought that things such as their nationality, gender, sexual orientation and disability did limit how much they could succeed.
Japan also has the lowest number of people who considered it desirable to get married and have children, at around 59%, followed by China and South Korea ranking just above that, at around 62% and 64%, respectively. The highest rate was seen in the U.K., at approximately 73%.
In the three East Asian countries, a declining population and an aging society were raised by respondents in the survey as being the most pressing issues that their respective countries face.
Read: Living in a mad, mad world
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The Bengal-born writer Nazarul Islam is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America. He is author of a recently published book ‘Chasing Hope’ – a compilation of his articles.
