President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday downplayed the problems posed by the country’s aging population, saying the welfare and national health insurance programs in place addressed the issue.
“Please don’t worry,” the president said while visiting an educational center for the elderly in Shuishang Township (水上), Chiayi County.
“With the welfare system for the senior citizens in place, the problem of an aging population is not that serious,” he said.
REST ‘INSURED’
Unlike many other countries, Ma said, Taiwan has a national insurance program and the resources spent on senior citizens are comparatively high.
That is what many other countries lack, he said.
Ma said Chiayi County had a higher ratio of senior citizens than Penghu County last year, making it the highest ratio in the country.
More than 15 percent of Chiayi County’s population is 65 years old and above.
The UN defines an “aging society” as a country where 7 percent or more of the population is aged 65 years or older.
Taiwan has fit that definition since 1993, when the segment of its population aged 65 and up first accounted for 7.1 percent, Council for Economic Planning and Development figures indicate.
Senior citizens comprised 8.8 percent of the population in 2001 and are expected to comprise 20 percent in 2026.
JAPAN COMPARISON
Ma said yesterday the public should not worry too much about the trend, because Japan had well passed the 20 percent mark.
“Taiwan has more than 1,000 centenarians and Japan has about 8,000,” he said.
“There are some 1 million Japanese who are over 90 years old. They are living a good life,” Ma said.
The public should rest assured because there are many programs in place to address the nation’s aging population, Ma said, adding that the government had a five-year, NT$500 billion (US$14.7 billion) project to improve the quality of life for senior citizens.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS