TOKYO: One in three single women in Japan want to be a full-time housewife, despite growing demand for their participation in the male-dominated workforce of the country - one of the world's highly industrialized nations.

Asked if they want to be a full-time housewife after getting married, a total of 34.2 per cent of single women said that they want or somewhat want to be one, according to an official survey, which quizzed over 3,000 people aged 15-39.

Those who did not want or somewhat did not want to be a full-time housewife totaled 38.5 per cent, Kyodo news agency reported quoting the survey conducted by Japan's

ministry of health

, labour and welfare.

Among single men, 19.3 per cent expressed positive views about the prospect of their spouses becoming a full-time housewife, while those with negative views came to 30.2 per cent.

The survey was conducted over the Internet in late March by a private think tank commissioned by the ministry, the report said, adding responses came from a total of 3,133 men and women including those who were already married.

The

International Monetary Fund

estimates that Japan's working-age population will fall by almost 40 per cent by 2050.

The IMF said female employment rate in Japan is about 25 percentage points lower than the rate for men, and ranks among the lowest in the developed countries.

It also estimates that if women labour participation rate climbed to the average of the Group of 7 industrial economies, Japan's per-capita economic output would be 4 percentage points higher.