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A parasite single (パラサイトシングル, parasaito shinguru) is a single person who lives with their parents beyond their late 20s or early 30s to enjoy a more carefree and comfortable life. In Japanese culture, the term is especially used when negatively describing young unmarried women.

Etymology

The expression parasaito shinguru was first used by Masahiro Yamada of Tokyo Gakugei University in his book The Age of Parasite Singles (パラサイトシングルの時代, parasaito shinguru no jidai), published in October 1999.^{[citation needed]}

Yamada subsequently coined the related term parasite couple to refer to married children living with the parents of one partner.^{[citation needed]}

Social impact

One possible side-effect of the parasite single phenomenon is the increase of the average age of the first marriage (though this is also attributable to other factors, such as career prospects and education). While in 1970, Japanese women married on average at age 24 and men at age 27, by 2002, this had increased to 27.4 years for women and 29 years for men. This has also resulted in women having children later in life, and fewer children overall due to the decline in fertility after age 30. Subsequently, while in 1983 there were on average 1.8 children born to every woman over her lifetime, this has decreased to 1.22 children per woman in 2008.^[1]

Similar arrangements outside Japan

These lifestyles are not confined to Japanese society; similar arrangements can also be found in other cultures.^[2] In Italy, parasite singles were offensively called bamboccioni ("grown-up big spoiled babies") in 2007 by former minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, voluntarily ignoring the situation of a considerable part of the 20- to 30-year-old population.^[3] In post-communist Central Europe, the phenomenon is more accepted, possibly due to socio-economic reasons and soaring housing prices. In English-speaking nations, the term "basement dweller" has connotations that imply a person lives with their parents because they do not have enough money to move out, and if they had enough money would be living on their own.^[4]^[5]

A different concept of parasite single is found in Brazil, where some individuals are said to have a Paitrocínio (a wordplay between the words pai/father and patrocínio/sponsorship).^[6] This word is used not for the ones living in their parents' homes, but for the ones who did leave home, but still rely solely, or majorly, on their parents' financial support. The reasons for leaving home before achieving financial independence vary, but mostly it is due to college or to start a career with small or uncertain initial incomes, such as in arts and sports.^[7]^[8]^[9]