Metrical and Comparative Studies of the Trend of Marriages, Divorces and Families in Mainland Japan and Okinawa in Modern Ages

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The marriage rate in Japan in modern ages has been decreasing since 1947, when it reached the highest percentage. Due to first marriage age increasing, the result of couples marring late has also increased. On the other hand, the number of children brought forth by each couple is decreasing. The divorce rate, which was decreasing at one time in the past, has shown the upward tendency after the war, particular since 1970. It is also increasing even among those couples who have married for 20 and more years. The remarried rate has also shown increase. Coupling of the first marriage and the remarriage is of every sort. With some regional differences in the rate of live births, marriages and divorces, the recent tendency has been almost the same.Although Okinawa has the same tendency as observed in mainland Japan regarding births, marriages and divorces, I still have discovered in my present studies some facts unique to the island of Okinawa. They are : 1) Both the birth rate and the total … More fertility rate are highest in Japan ; 2) The age of first marriage is not as young as what was reported and the age of a female married late is relatively older in the nation ; 3) The age of marriages, which is more or less variant, is related to the variation of births ; 4) The remarriage rate is high, and the matching of marriage is variant in comparison with that in the mainland ; 5) The divorce rate is highest in the nation ; 6) The divorce rate by duration of cohabitation is lowest for those married for 2 years or less and 20 years and above, while it is highest for those married both for less than 2 years and 20 years or less ; 7) The ratio of unemployment, persons employed in the tertiary industry and family nuclei households in the nation has high correlation with the divorce rates. The same phenomenon can be observed in Okinawa ; and 8) The ratio of dual-income households and three-generation households in the nation has a negative correlation with the divorce rates. This phenomenon can also be seen in Okinawa.The change in households, which is becoming smaller, nuclear and aged, is not the same regionally.In the present studies, careful analysis was made on the characteristics of family types of household by prefecture observing the correlation between the family types of household and the social indicators by prefecture, with reference to the results of the population census of Japan taken after the war. Less