The table shows the proportion of fifty-year-old adults who were never married over five decades in Japan. The chart represents the Japanese marriage and divorce rate from 1970 to 2016. Summarise the data by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The table shows the

number

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of adults in Japan (in thousands) between 1970 and 2010, who by

age

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the age

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fifty

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of fifty

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had yet to marry. The chart illustrates the marriage and divorce

rate

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for Japanese people over a similar period of 46 years.

Overall

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, as the

number

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of married couples significantly decreased over the period, the

number

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of unmarried adults in Japan aged 50 increased,

while

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the divorce

rate

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rose, albeit gradually. The table shows an increase in the proportion of unmarried Japanese nearing retirement age from 2% (1970) to 15% (2010), with a particularly high rise between 1990 and 2000 when the

number

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considerably increased by 5%. Fewer people getting married may

similarly

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have affected the marriage

rate

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which almost halved over forty years. In 1970 over a million Japanese got married, which had decreased by a fifth in 1980, fluctuated slightly until 2000 before steadily falling again to over 600

thousand

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by 2016.

By contrast

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, Japan’s divorce

rate

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doubled, though more gradually over the same period. In 1970, the

rate

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stood at around 100

thousand

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, increasing slowly to 175

thousand

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by 1990, peaking at approximately 280,000 in 2000

then

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plateauing from 2010 to 2016 at just over 200

thousand

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.