The National Development Council (NDC) has added raising the fertility rate to its list of priorities as the nation’s population continues to age rapidly due to the declining number of births, NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said yesterday.
The nation’s top economic policy planner and executor has received the Cabinet’s approval to merge two task forces in charge of the low birth rate and talent recruitment into an upgraded panel that Premier William Lai (賴清德) is to head, she said.
“The council is to approach the matter from a broad perspective encompassing economic, industrial and talent recruitment policies, rather than focus on the introduction of welfare benefits as in the past,” Chen told a news conference.
Photo: Chen Mei-ing, Taipei Times
The gravity of the issue warrants the escalated attention, as the demographic trend could evolve into serious social and economic problems, she said.
Taiwan’s fertility rate — the average number of children born per woman — was 1.17 last year, with 208,000 births, Chen said, citing Ministry of the Interior data.
The number of births is expected to drop to fewer than 200,000 this year, with only slightly more than 120,000 births in the first eight months, she said.
Taiwan is ranked 219th in the world in terms of birth rate by the CIA’s World Factbook, seventh from last.
The introduction of social welfare benefits promises no solutions, as young people have complained about soaring housing prices, low wages, a lack of well-paying jobs and other socioeconomic concerns, Chen said.
The number of people in the nation aged 65 or older overtook that of children younger than 15 for the first time in February and is expected to account for 14 percent of the overall population next year, officially making Taiwan an aged society, she said.
Taiwan is forecast to become a “super-aged” society in 2026, when the number of older people is expected to surpass 20 percent of the total population, she added.
Academics and business groups have voiced concern about a contraction in private consumption in the medium to long term if the trend persists.
The fertility rate promotion group is to convene its first meeting in the middle of next month, Chen said.
A fertility rate of more than 2 is required to maintain a steady population, because there must be as many offspring as parents after accounting for child mortality, academics have said.
The government aims to remove obstacles to building a family and raising children, Chen said, adding that potential policy measures include the construction of public housing units and a review of education, immigration and industrial policies.
Meanwhile, the council is to steer a task force to facilitate private investment from domestic and international companies, she said.
The task force is to meet for the second time on Wednesday next week to address concerns over the tight supply of water, electricity, workers, land and talent, she added.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
RSS