Declining birth rate worries MOI

The Ministry of the Interior is worried about the nation's declining birth rate, which has hit a record low, and is looking for ways to get couples to have more children.

The ministry's Population Administration Department is going to develop a plan to stimulate the birth rate and slow down the rate at which Taiwan is turning into aging society.

"Most of the younger generation just don't want to have babies. We will try to offer certain incentives to encourage the younger generation to have babies," Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) said at a ministry press conference yesterday.

Statistics released by the ministry last Friday show that the total number of births from January to September this year was 180,000 -- a 6 percent drop from the same period last year. The ministry is worried that if this trend continues, the birth rate will hit zero in 2031.

For decades, fewer children was a government policy.

In the 1960's the government's population policy was "Two are just right" (兩個恰恰好) and the average number of births annually was 400,000. The policy was changed to "One is not too few; two are just right" (一個不嫌少,兩個恰恰好) in the 1980s.

The ministry has proposed a new slogan as part of its efforts to raise the birth rate -- "Two are just right, three is not too many" (兩個恰恰好,三個不嫌多).

Part of the proposed population growth plan is to encourage couples to have more than two children through a combination of tax cuts, government subsidies, public day-care centers for working women and preferential health care for children.

Among the proposals is one to give couples who already have two children a government subsidy of NT$30,000 for each additional baby. If implemented, the plan is estimated to cost NT$12 billion annually.

Couples who have experienced difficulties in conceiving a child would also be targeted in the proposed plan, with a NT$20,000 per couple subsidy to help pay for medical expenses.

Families would also be given subsidies to help cover child-raising expenses. Parents with children under five years of age would receive an annual subsidy of NT$1,800 per child, those with children between six to 11 would receive NT$2,200 per child and those with children between 12 to 17 would receive NT$2,600 per child.

The ministry estimates the per-child subsidies would cost the government NT$1.1 billion a year.

However, even Yu doubts throwing cash at couples is going to help halt the declining birth rate.

"Many young couples don't even want to have a first baby, so how would the NT$30,000 subsidy plan work?" Yu said.

In an effort to come up with more practical benefits that might encourage couples to have babies, the ministry will hold a conference this Friday to which it has invited medical and population experts as well as representatives of women groups.

Over the weekend KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (徐中雄) also announced that he would push for amendments to the Social Service and Rescue Law (社會救助法) and the Income Tax Law (所得稅法) to give couples who have children government subsidies and tax breaks.