In a bid to retain residents and boost its vigor, Changhua County has raised its subsidy for new parents above those offered by some major municipalities.
Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) on Friday last week announced the new figure — NT$30,000 per birth.
It reflects a campaign promise Wei made before his victory in the nine-in-one elections to revitalize the largely rural county.
Like elsewhere in Taiwan, young people in Changhua tend to head to special municipalities like Greater Taichung or Taipei to seek jobs.
“Children are our future, and if we do not try to solve the problem of population outflow, Changhua will become an aged county with falling tax revenue,” said Wei, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.
“As of Jan. 1, parents will get the NT$30,000 subsidy for each newborn, once they have completed the child’s household registration.”
“No matter which town or village a family lives in, or how much subsidy it has received from township authorities, the county government will absolutely make up the difference to bring the total subsidy to NT$30,000,” he said. “That is higher than the amount offered in Taipei or Greater Taichung.”
The capital offers a one-time subsidy of NT$20,000 per newborn, as well as NT$2,500 per month for up to five years to eligible new parents, while Taichung, Taiwan’s third-largest city by population, offers NT$10,000 per newborn.
Wei pledged that he will honor all of his campaign promises over his four-year term, adding that the funds for the subsidy had been allocated by former Changhua county commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) before his term ended on Dec. 24 last year.
Changhua County Social Affairs Department director Huang Shu-chuan (黃淑娟) said that as long as one of the newborn’s parents lives in the county and their household registration in the county has been uninterrupted for more than a year, the family is entitled to the subsidy.
Huang said that more than 11,000 babies were born in Changhua County last year.
More than 189,000 babies were born across the nation in the first 11 months of last year, Ministry of the Interior figures show.
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