Taiwan’s working-age population is expected to decline by 180,000 next year, Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said yesterday, underscoring the need for a policy overhaul to meet new challenges.
“The seriousness of the demographic shrinking deserves serious attention,” Mao told a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Citing research by the National Development Council, Mao said the nation’s working-age population — people aged 15 to 65 — is expected to reach its peak this year at 17 million.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan had a total population of 23.4 million as of last month.
“The council estimated that the working population would decrease at a rate of 180,000 per year starting next year, which would add up to 1.8 million people in 10 years,” Mao said, describing the pace of the decline as a “steep, parabolic” curve.
An aging society and a falling birthrate require new thinking in formulating policies, ranging from economic development to industrial structure, education, social welfare and childcare, Mao said.
In addition to a series of measures in place to construct a healthy environment to encourage more people to have children, the government needs to create a decent work environment and conditions to increase labor participation, as well as refine its immigration policy to increase the workforce, the premier said.
The council estimated that Taiwan’s population would peak at about 23.5 million or 23.6 million between 2019 and 2026.
The council said that Taiwan would become an aged society, in which people aged 65 or older account for at least 14 percent of the population, in 2018, and enter a super-aged society in 2025 when more than 20 percent of the population is composed of people aged 65 or above.
Taiwan became an aging society in 1993, when the demographic accounted for 7 percent of the population.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS