The nation’s aging index has exceeded 100 for the first time, highlighting the severity of the aging population problem, the Ministry of the Interior said in a report yesterday.
The aging index is found by calculating the ratio of people aged 65 or older to people aged 14 or younger.
Before this year, the index has exceeded 100 in three cities and counties in 2011; this year it did so in 15 of them.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The ministry said the index rose 6.68 points from 93.5 in February last year.
The report said that outside the six special municipalities, Chiayi, Nantou and Pingtung counties faced the most severe aging population issue, while Taipei, Tainan and Kaohsiung all exceeded 100.
More than 7 percent of the nation was designated as “aging” in 1993 and the aging trend has grown throughout the years, the ministry said.
In May last year, people 65 or older amounted to 12.78 percent of total population, while last month’s figures showed that rose to 13.33 percent.
The ministry cited last year’s population estimates from the National Development Council and said that elderly people would account for 14 percent of the total population by next year and might exceed 20 percent by 2026, turning Taiwan into a hyper-aged society, like Japan.
Meanwhile, the ministry said it has passed the 10-year long-term care plan, which establishes a long-term care system that would have affordable prices and be communal in nature.
The council said it was working with the ministries of labor, education and health and welfare to create an environment conducive for raising children in a bid to boost birth rates.
The interior ministry said it hopes the measures will help government policies aimed at servicing an aged society.
Interior ministry officials said that it is inviting single women and men to attend matchmaking events sponsored by the ministry.
The interior ministry said it will be holding 12 such events throughout the year, with the registration for the first event starting on March 22 and ending on April 5.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)