Due to a falling marriage rate, or people waiting longer to get married, and a declining birthrate coupled with medical advances, increased living standards and longer life spans, Taiwan officially became an aged society in 2018.
Ministry of the Interior population statistics for the first eight months of this year show 116,389 deaths and 105,161 births, or a net population decrease of 11,128 — the first time a decline has been recorded.
Since Taiwan became an aged society, the annual average of childbirths has decreased by about 8,000 to 9,000 each year, while the number of people aged 65 or older has increased significantly, making Taiwan one of the world’s fastest-aging societies.
According to a National Development Council report on population projections through 2070, the decline began this year, two years ahead of what was expected.
Sixteen percent of the population is aged 65 or older and that is expected to increase to 20 percent by 2025.
If it does, Taiwan will officially have become a super-aged society one year ahead of projections.
An aged society with a negative population growth rate is likely to have important implications.
The demographic imbalance, due to a fall in the ratio of working-age population to old population, will have a huge impact on the economy and society, regardless of pension reforms and improved state finances.
For example, a low birthrate and longer lifespans will mean that spending from the Labor Insurance Fund will exceed revenue. It is estimated that the fund could go bankrupt by 2026.
The negative population growth rate and its effect on the labor force will result in a top-heavy, “inverted triangle” demographic.
The increasing number of older people, coupled with rapidly increasing demand for medical treatment and long-term care, will result in a shortage of medical resources and a lack of long-term carers, as well as shrinking government finances and tax revenue, and create a higher need for subsidies for poor and disadvantaged people.
On top of that, young people have to live with low salaries and are unable to afford property, which will contribute to their feeling of insecurity.
These factors will have a deleterious effect on Taiwan’s economy and society, to the extent that it is elevated to a national security problem.
The government needs to find an appropriate way to deal with the huge socio-economic impact that population decline will have on the nation.
For example, to address the effects of a rapidly aging society, the government needs to improve control of state finances to reduce the accumulation of debt.
On the problem of a declining labor force, it must explore ways to increase job opportunities for women, while allowing people to work until a higher age, which will increase the labor force participation rate.
The government must also investigate how to increase the use of smart applications and automation to supplement shortfalls in the labor force.
However, the most important challenge is to increase the birthrate, maintain the population and stabilize the nation’s demographic structure.
The government should establish a cross-departmental committee to propose concrete, viable policies to ensure the sustainable governance and security of the nation and its populace.
Lee Shen-yi is vice chairman of the Contemporary Taiwan Development Foundation.
Translated by Paul Cooper
The White House’s decision to take a 9.9 percent stake in Intel Corp is looking like very shrewd business indeed. Since the government bought in at US$20.47 a share last August, the US chipmaker’s surging stock price has delivered the US a US$43 billion return. One of the reasons the investment has so far proved so sound is that the White House has made sure of it. According to The Wall Street Journal, Howard personally pushed deals on Intel’s behalf with some of the most lucrative clients imaginable. They include Nvidia Corp, the company at the heart of the AI
A single photograph can cut through a lot of noise, but it can also be used to misrepresent the truth. At the very least, it can concentrate the mind on something that requires further investigation. On Monday last week, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation CEO Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) and former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) held a news conference in which they showed a photograph of former foundation CEO Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), now Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) deputy chairman. In the image Hsiao is seated next to Xiamen Taiwan Businessmen Association chairman Han Ying-huan (韓螢煥). The two men were holding
I first met Professor Ray Jiing (井迎瑞) as a film and documentary student at Shih Hsin University’s (SHU) Department of Radio Television and Film in 1988. The following year, he went on to become the director of the Chinese Taipei Film Archive — forerunner of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI). Over his eight-year tenure, Jiing rescued and restored over 200 classic Taiwanese films. In 1997, he established the Graduate Institute of Studies in Documentary and Film Archiving at Tainan National University of the Arts (TNNUA), and I joined the program in his third cohort of students. Beyond a
A recent report concerning a student who is suing his teacher posed the question in its headline: Does failing a student in two subjects constitute bullying? The college student in Chiayi County apparently sought NT$2 million (US$63,603) in state compensation, but a court dismissed the case. The first reaction of many might have been to ask: What has happened to students nowadays? Some say that teachers have lost their authority, while others say students are overindulged. Some even start reminiscing over the days when “whatever the teacher says goes.” However, the real issue might be overlooked if emotional reactions like that are the
RSS