Fifty-five percent of the Japanese think "women can lead a happy life without marrying," while 39 percent do not share this view, according to a survey conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun as part of a yearlong series of polls about the Japanese.

This is a marked increase from the 26 per cent of respondents who answered likewise to a similar question asked in 1978. In that survey, 50 per cent disagreed with the statement.

This shows a pronounced change over the past 30 years in the way people perceive marriage.

"Views on marriage" was the theme of the survey conducted via face-to-face interviews on Aug. 9-10.

Thirty per cent agreed with the statement "It is desirable for men to concentrate on work, and for women to devote themselves to the home after marriage," while 68 percent disagreed.

The 1978 survey asked people whether "men pursuing a career and women looking after a home and family brought happiness to both." Seventy-one percent of respondents agreed and 22 percent did not.

The view that a man should work while his wife stays at home has rapidly lost public support.

In contrast, 65 per cent of people agreed in the current survey that "it is better to get married," compared with 33 per cent supporting the view "it is not always necessary to get married." The result indicates that the concept of marriage is a welcomed one.

The percentage of people who believe it is better to be married jumped 11 percentage points from the 54 percent who agreed with the same statement in the 2003 survey--showing a rapid increase in the number of people who believe it is desirable to be married.

The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network