Japan's elderly population living alone to jump 47% by 2050 - research

TOKYO (Reuters) - The number of senior citizens living alone in Japan will likely jump 47% by 2050, a government-affiliated research institute said on Friday, underscoring the heavy burden the country's demographic change will exert on its social security system.

The number of single-person households is expected to reach 23.3 million in 2050, accounting for 44.3% of total households. That would be higher than 38% in 2020, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research said.

Of those one-person households, senior citizens aged 65 or older will likely represent 46.5% in 2050, compared with 34.9% in 2020, the institute's estimates showed.

Japan, one of the world's most advanced ageing societies, has seen a constant decline in the number of marriages in recent decades as a stagnant economy hits the young generations the hardest. The COVID-19 pandemic also came in the way of people meeting their potential partners and tying the knot.

Nearly one-third of Tokyo men in their 50s have never been married, while data gathered by Recruit Holdings shows 46% of men and 30% of women in their 20s in Japan have never dated.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Devika Syamnath)