Current policies to encourage fertility are inconsistent, ineffective and work at cross-purposes, a researcher said yesterday, adding that parental leave and child-rearing subsidies should be distributed equally among the public to effectively encourage fertility.
National Taiwan University associate professor Chen Yu-hua (陳玉華) presented her research results on Taiwanese attitudes toward fertility, behavioral changes and possible policy impacts at the National Science Council.
The nation’s fertility rate has dropped drastically in the past few decades, reaching a low of below 1 in 2010 before rising marginally to 1.07 last year, making Taiwan the owner of one of the lowest rates in the world, Chen said, adding that the situation has become even more pressing as the population ages.
Looking at Sweden’s success in increasing its fertility rate last year through a mix of social welfare and labor policies, shows that policies can affect individuals’ and families’ willingness to have children, Chen said.
However, it is difficult to establish such a social welfare system in Taiwan. In addition, the government must also be able to provide a large number of secure jobs for women, she added.
Chen said Germany has been able to increase its fertility rate without changing its social system, through the provision of childcare, maternity leave protection, parental leave and family allowances, which could serve as a model for Taiwan.
She said if economic concerns are the main reason why Taiwanese are hesitant to have children, then the government should adjust its current policies — which vary according to counties and cities, and between people on different vocational insurance programs — to make them more equal.
Having a different fertility encouragement policy in each area is inconsistent, Chen said, adding that while a parent on government employee, school staff, or military insurance can receive a childbirth subsidy worth two months of their salary, people on labor insurance receive a subsidy equal to just one month of their salary, and this is applicable only to mothers.
In addition, Ministry of the Interior data showed that although protected by the law, many women do not take parental leave or apply for subsidies, and that the majority of people who do make use of the subsidy were government employees or school staff, she said.
The government should review whether fertility policies should still be linked to different vocational insurance programs or whether it would be more effective to provide equal and substantial policies to support families, she said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS