In Japan, only one in five high school students report having had their first kiss, the lowest figure ever recorded in a regular survey of young people's sexuality.
The study by the Japan Association for Sex Education (Jase) has been carried out every six years since 1974.
High school girls are also wise with 27.5%, or more than one in four, declaring that they had had their first kiss. But the drop among boys was much greater than in the last survey.
Experts say the figures show how pandemic restrictions have affected the way young Japanese express themselves sexually.
Fewer young Japanese are having sex while more are masturbating, the study also showed.
The proportion of high school students reporting having had sexual intercourse fell by 3.5 points compared to 2017, to 12%. Among high school girls, it fell by 5.3 points to 14.8%.
Despite being less active with their partners, the survey found that masturbation is on the rise in all three demographic groups and is at record levels among middle and high school girls in general.
Tokyo-based Jase surveyed 12,562 students at middle schools, high schools and universities in 2023 for its study.
School closures and restrictions on physical contact during the Covid pandemic likely had an impact on many of these students, as it occurred “at a sensitive time when (they were) becoming interested in sexuality “, according to Yusuke Hayashi, sociology professor at Musashi. University cited in the Mainichi newspaper.
The survey results come as Japan struggles to stem its declining birth rate and growing problem of asexuality. A separate survey earlier this year found that almost half of marriages in Japan are sexless.
The country has the world's oldest population, measured by the UN as the proportion of people aged 65 or over.
At the end of 2023, Japan reported that, for the first time, one in ten people in the country were aged 80 or older.
In March, diaper maker Oji Holdings announced it would stop making baby diapers and focus on making adult diapers.
