Tainan’s population of those aged 20 to 49 has fallen by about 67,000 since Tainan city and county merged to form the special municipality in 2010, Democratic Progressive Party Tainan City Councilor Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉) said on Monday.
In December 2010 — when the merger took effect — there were 895,457 people between the ages of 20 and 49 in Tainan, Chiu said while questioning Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) at the Tainan City Council.
Last month, there were 828,058, she said.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
Tainan’s population has declined for 10 consecutive months, from 1,883,831 in December last year to 1,881,204 last month, she said.
It is at risk of falling below 1.88 million, she added.
It is the first time Tainan’s population has experienced such a “dark period of negative growth,” she said.
Tainan’s youth policy should not be a “formality” or an “empty phrase,” she said.
While the Tainan City Government needs to re-evaluate the situation, it should avoid getting into a race with other regions for citizens to move their household registration to the city, Huang said, adding that it needs to think about how to make young people stay.
“Subsidies are like baby bottles, but the most important reason for giving a baby a bottle is to wean them,” he said.
The city government wants to help young people who are starting out in life, but it still hopes they remain independent, he said.
The birthrate is falling across Taiwan, Huang said, calling the declining population a “nationwide crisis.”
Citing estimates by experts, he said Taiwan’s population is likely to fall below 20 million by 2050.
The Tainan City Government has responded by running a pilot subsidized subletting program, he said.
Since 2017, 387 people have participated in the program, with that number gradually growing, he said.
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