Taiwan Today

The latest Ministry of the Interior statistics show the fertility rate in Taiwan has dwindled to an average of one child per woman, the world’s lowest. The number of births in 2009 dropped to 191,000, equivalent to a birth rate of 8.29 per thousand. Both figures are new record lows. The MOI tallies indicate the number of children being born in Taiwan has been decreasing over the last decade, with fewer than 300,000 in 2001, and under 200,000 in 2008. The fertility rate has also been declining in recent decades, with 20 per thousand in the early 1980s, but dropping to 10 per thousand in 2008. An MOI official pointed to the economic recession and declining income as the major reasons for the new low records. “Young people are not inclined to have children,” he said. On the other hand, “those without financial cares, such as people working in the fields of technology and finance, tend to postpone marriage, and the average age at which women bear their first child is above 30.” The MOI official pointed out that measures proposed in recent years to raise the fertility rate have focused on subsidies as incentives. “These measures have failed to materialize because of the government’s financial difficulties,” he said. In comparison, the fertility rate in France is an average of 2.0 children per woman, and 1.9 in the United Kingdom. Many European countries offer social welfare measures as incentives, including free education from preschool to university. Although other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea have relatively low birth rates, at 1.3 they are still higher than Taiwan’s, according to the official. “To have a fertility rate of 1.0, the lowest in the world, is a truly critical situation,” he added. The official said with government policy makers prioritizing response to drought and economic recession, “we need to set up an agency specifically to deal with the falling birth rate.” (PCT-THN) (This article first appeared Jan. 9, 2010 in the “Commercial Times.”)