No sex please, we're Japanese.
That, at least, is what the folks who make Durex condoms would have us believe many here are saying. According to Durex SSL International's annual poll of 18,500 people in 28 countries, Japanese are the world's least prolific lovers. Folks here apparently average 36 sexual encounters a year.
PHOTO: AFP
What's all this sex talk got to do with economics? Nothing, until you take a deeper look at which countries supposedly have the least sex and trends in their GDP. Only then, after admittedly unscientific analysis, does one begin to ponder a link between sex and economics.
Take the three places in which people supposedly are least sexually active: Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The survey found the Taiwanese average 65 sexual encounters a year -- nearly double that of Japanese -- while Hong Kongers have 63. What these Asian economies also have in common is that they're among the region's most vulnerable to the global slowdown.
Japan's woes need little explanation. Its economy shrank 0.7 percent in the second quarter, and analysts see little hope of revival. Hong Kong eked out 0.4 percent growth, but plunging exports mean recession is a risk there, too. Taiwan's economy fell a more drastic 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the second straight drop.
Taken together, the outlooks for Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong constitute a major blow to the international economy. Countries such as Indonesia are in worse shape, but officials in Taipei aren't steering clear of the global slowdown as they did during Asia's 1997-1998 economic crisis. Hong Kong may revisit its 1998 recession as export demand evaporates. Japan, meanwhile, is on the verge of a full-blown banking crisis.
"Signs suggest sexual desires have dropped while the economy continued to lose momentum," C. Jay Jeng, president of the Taiwan Association for Sexuality Education, told Agence France-Presse when asked about the survey.
One can't help but wonder just how honest and accurate Durex expects people to be about their sex lives, especially when sharing life's most intimate details with complete strangers. Yet take a look at the flipside of the Durex survey: The countries that purportedly have the most sex are the US, Greece and Croatia.
Let's look at the latter two first. Greece, the latest member to the join Europe's monetary union, is growing 4.9 percent; Croatia, 4.7 percent. New Zealand -- with a 3.4 percent growth rate -- ranked fifth in the hanky panky department, besting even the Italians and French.
The US, where people supposedly make whoopee 124 times a year, would seem a glaring exception to the more-sex-equals-more- economic-growth theory. After all, analysts at the National Bureau of Economic Research believe the world's largest economy slid into recession in March.
Yet there are a couple of special considerations we should allow the US. One is its relative resilience following the popping of its asset bubble 18 months ago. Another is the likelihood the US will recover well ahead of Japan and most Asian economies.
The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates with rare enthusiasm and the Dow Jones industrial average is near the 10,000 mark. That's even after terrorists toppled New York's twin towers, perhaps the most famous symbol of global capitalism. So while it won't be pretty, the US economy's journey from the abyss to sustainable growth is well underway. One can hardly say that about Americans' less promiscuous counterparts in Asia.
If you're looking for holes in the more-sex-more-growth theory, here's one. Folks in China, for example, the world's fastest-growing major economy, ranked fourth-to-last in terms of sexual frequency. Looked at another way, however, the four populations that Durex found to have the least sex all reside in Asian nations. Asia, as fate would have it, may just be the most vulnerable region in the global economy right now.
It's not all bad news for Asia's economies. One bit of hope concerns Hong Kong. The Durex survey found its citizens would rather go shopping than have sex. Now that could be good news for consumer spending. And when they're in the mood for love, the survey found, the workplace is the preferred venue for Hong Kongers. Now there's a workforce committed to productivity, so to speak.
By William Pesek Jr. is a columnist for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS