The birthrate in Japan is declining and its population is ageing. The total fertility rate (the total live birthrate for women in all age groups for that year, in other words, it refers to the number of births per woman during her lifetime) has continued to decline since it fell below 2.00 in 1975. The increase in the percentage of unmarried persons is thought to be one of the factors behind the decline in Japan's total fertility rate.

The average age at first marriage has risen annually and stood at 29.0 years for men and 27.2 years for women in 2001. Approximately half of Japanese women in their late 20s, the age group that used to enjoy the highest birthrate, remained unmarried. The lifelong single rate (the percentage of people still single at 50 years of age) has increased dramatically since 1960, particularly for men.

The aging rate (the proportion of the total population aged 65 years or older) has also risen rapidly. The declining birthrate and greater life expectancy are thought to be the main factors behind the aging of society. The average life expectancy of women was 84.93 years in 2001 and that of men was 78.07 years.

The percentage of students advancing into high school in Japan is extremely high, with the percentage of girls exceeding that of boys.

Although the majority of boys advancing into institutions of higher education enter universities (undergraduate), girls may advance into either universities (undergraduate) or junior colleges. However, the trend in recent years has been for the percentage of girls advancing into universities (undergraduate) to increase and their advancement into junior colleges to decline. Moreover, their major fields of study are diversifying.

The labor force participation rate of women in Japan remains an M-shaped curve with their participation declining due to marriage, childbirth and child raising. Women's aspirations to work are not being realized although many women have a great desire to work throughout their childbirth/child raising years. The latent labor force participation rate, which adds of the number of unemployed women who wish to work to the labor force population, approximates an upside down U-shaped curve. Looking at how Japanese couples spend their time, we see that regardless of whether or not their wives work, husbands spend little time on housework, raising children or care for the elderly. As a result, working wives have to shoulder both their responsibilities at home and at work.

Diversification of work patterns may be given as a distinguishable change in recent employment. The proportion of the labor force engaged in work patterns other than regular employees, including part-timers, dispatch workers and contract workers, has increased, and this trend is particularly noticeable among women.

Japanese women accounted for 55.5% of the total labor force engaged in agriculture in 2002, 14.3% in forestry in 2002 and 16.9% in the fisheries in 2000. Women engaged in agriculture, forestry and fisheries play an important role in their respective industries and contribute greatly to the management of their respective lifestyles and to the maintenance and revitalization of their local communities. Looking at the status of women's participation in local policy decision-making processes reveals that the percentage of female members of agricultural committees responsible for organizing matters pertaining to the use of farmland remains at a low level. Notwithstanding, this percentage has increased from 0.80% in 1998 to 1.64% in 1999 and 1.82% in 2000, and the trend is for this to rise gradually.