Men play the dominant role when it comes to making decisions about planned parenthood, social and medical experts said.
"In recent years, birthrate research conducted in the US has been focusing on men instead of women, because studies show that men's willingness to reproduce is the key to parenthood," said Joyce Feng (馮燕), vice president of the Child Welfare League Foundation.
In a seminar held by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and a Chinese-language parenting magazine yesterday, experts discussed the factors behind the drastic birthrate decline in Taiwan.
According to the MOI, the current birth rate is 1.24 per woman.
In a survey conducted by the magazine, 18.9 percent of female respondents said they did not wish to have children of their own, while 34.6 percent of male respondents said the same.
Wu Wen-hao (吳文豪), chairman of Child Health Promotion Society (中華民國兒童保健協會), stated that high standards of education, people marrying at a late age, increased female participation in labor market and the high costs associated with parenting contribute to the low birthrate.
"People who are going through academic pursuits are not inclined to have children. Therefore, the increased level of education delays the process of childbirth," Wu said.
Hsieh Ai-ling (謝愛齡), director of the ministry's Population Administration Department, pointed out that men who do house chores react more positively to parenthood.
"According to a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, men who are more interested in doing house chores are more likely to have children," Hsieh said.
Soong Yung-kuei (宋永魁), deputy superintendent of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, said the variety of available contraception measures is one of the factors resulting in low birthrates.
"Generally, infertility is not a very serious issue in Taiwan, and the costs associated with artificial insemination are reasonable according to international rates. However, the prevalence of birth control measures makes the decision not to have children easy," Soong said.
According to Soong, due to the increased education levels among Taiwanese women, the favorable ages to have children are pushed back to between 30 and 34.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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