One factor (or rather, the main factor) in the decline in the birth rate is the nonmarriage rate.

The reasons for the growing number of unmarried people are clear.

"My (our) inability to verbalize the "value, merits and advantages of marriage" to young people"

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The other day I heard a story in the news that 'statistics show that the wellbeing of non-married women has surpassed that of married women' -- I had a hunch that 'eventually the data would come out' -- but... -- I was still shocked.

The following table shows my predictions of nonmarriage just 10 years ago.

I myself understand that "non-marriage" is a worthwhile life choice.

But at the same time, we know that "marriage" is also a worthwhile life choice.

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Of course, non-marriage and marriage are not determined solely by one's choice.

However, we don't need to look at the data to know that "marriage" is a terribly difficult time today.

The following graph is my prediction from 10 years ago. At a quick glance, it appears that the rate of nonmarriage is accelerating faster than I predicted.

The difficulty of marriage today is, in my experience, 'more than 10 times' as difficult as it was in my day, and I think I could beat it out of you numerically if I wanted to.

Aside from that.

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I have no objection of "My (our) inability to verbalize the "value, merits and advantages of marriage" to young people", however,

So, in our time, 'Did any of our predecessors properly verbalize the value of marriage?' I wondered.

No, they weren't there.

There was no one there except for one person.

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So how have I(we) chosen to get married?

People then, like us, could not verbalize the value of marriage, but I think we can say, "I could believe in the 'person' who were married to".

So, who is "the person"?

It was parents, seniors, the elderly, and society.

I (We) believed, for the time being, in a society that supported (or was sympathetic to) marriage.

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Extending this idea --

What is nonmarriage?

- Not recognize the values of those who do not wish to marry,

- Create (or leave in place) a society that fails to fulfill the desires of those who wish to marry,

- Not speak of the value of marriage in his own words,

I can only conclude that this is a "scathing criticism" of my (our) incompetence.