1.
moving away from, departure from, estrangement from
A suffix indicating a trend of moving away from or abandoning something. Often used to describe social phenomena.
活字離れが進んでいる。
The trend away from print (reading) is advancing.
若者の車離れ。
Young people's departure from cars (declining car ownership among youth).
テレビ離れが進み、動画サイトの利用が増えている。
As people move away from TV, video site usage is increasing.
〜離れ is a suffix attached to nouns to indicate a social trend of moving away from something.
COMMON EXAMPLES:
- 活字離れ: declining interest in reading/print
- 車離れ: declining car ownership
- テレビ離れ: declining TV viewership
- 酒離れ: declining alcohol consumption
- 結婚離れ: declining marriage rates
- 新聞離れ: declining newspaper readership
GRAMMAR:
Usually followed by が進む (to advance/progress) to indicate the trend is growing.
NOTE:
This is derived from the verb 離れる (to separate, to leave), but as a suffix it's pronounced ばなれ due to rendaku.