People have continued to migrate to northern Taiwan from the south in large numbers in the past six years, raising concerns over imbalanced population migration and regional development, according to the latest migration statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior.
More than 160,000 people migrated to northern Taiwan from abroad or other parts of the country between January 2008 and December last year, while central, southern and eastern Taiwan all experienced net population outflows, the statistics showed.
During the six-year period, New Taipei City (新北市), Taoyuan County, Greater Taichung, Kinmen County and Hsinchu County saw the biggest population inflows, while Changhua County and Pingtung County, both heavily reliant on agriculture, had the biggest population outflows.
The ministry said Kinmen County’s six-year population growth of 36,974 could be a result of its social welfare program and the impact of the “small three links” policy with China.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Hsiao Chia-chi (蕭家淇) said measures would be taken to improve infrastructure and social welfare, and help young people stay in less-developed areas, while urban planning would have to be reviewed in densely populated cities to satisfy the public’s needs.
Last year, 8,077 people moved to Taoyuan County, which had the biggest population inflow in the nation, followed by 7,351 in Greater Taichung and 6,828 in Kinmen County. Changhua suffered the biggest outflow, with 6,148 people migrating out of the county, the ministry’s statistics showed.
Taiwan had a net migration inflow of about 14,000 people last year, which represented 25.1 percent of the total population increase, the ministry said.
Another recent phenomenon is that the nation’s gender ratio (males per 100 females) dipped below 100 for the first time to 99.99, according to the ministry’s statistics released early last month. This means that the female population in Taiwan surpassed the male population for the first time in the past century.
The ministry said it expected the ratio to consistently decrease in the future, but added that the gender ratio in most advanced democracies is below 100.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS