徳島県の若年層の結婚行動

This paper analyzes the tendency of young adults to marry late or remain single – a cause of the population decline in Tokushima Prefecture. It is a critical issue that requires special attention from local government leaders. From the previous studies, we recognized and specified nine major factors that influence marriage decision, and each of them is compared by prefecture and gender and tested for the correlative relationship with the marriage experience rate using the data of the “Employment Status Survey (2007)” by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Based on these researches, we conclude the following three facts that discourage young adults from marrying in Tokushima Prefecture. 1) The men’s education level is similar to the national average, while their employment rate and income level are below the national average. Although they seem not to be so appealing to women, the marriage experience rate of male is slightly above the national average. 2) The women’s education level and employment rate are both above the national level, as contrasted to men. However, the marriage experience rate is below the national average. 3) The population of women in late 20s and 30s are both larger than that of men. Many of them are well educated and work full-time. Finding a partner with the same high quality as themselves can be much harder.