As Taiwan grows wealthier as a nation with GDP per capita exceeding US$30,000 in recent years, its gap between rich and poor increases, while there have also been significant changes in household incomes and spending patterns since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged about three years ago.
Data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) in late August showed the average disposable income per household was NT$1.11 million (US$34,465) last year, 1.7 percent higher than the previous year, and NT$392,000 per person, up 3.8 percent annually.
DGBAS data showed that the average disposable income among the top 20 percent of households was NT$2.24 million last year, up 1.8 percent from 2021, while the average for the bottom 20 percent was NT$365,000, an annual increase of 1.8 percent, the agency’s 2022 Survey of Family Income and Expenditure showed. The agency attributed the increase in disposable income to the nation’s economic growth, with GDP expanding 2.35 percent last year from the previous year despite the impact of the pandemic.
Even so, the figure for the top 20 percent was 6.15 times higher than for the bottom 20 percent, the same as the previous year, but still the highest since 2011, when the number was 6.17. In other words, the wealth gap has not improved despite increases in people’s average disposable income and GDP.
The Gini coefficient — a measure of inequality where zero indicates complete equality of income and one indicates complete inequality — reached 0.354 last year, the highest since 1983, when it was 0.357. Unlike disposable income data that focuses on a comparison between the top and bottom 20 percent of households, the Gini coefficient summarizes inequality in terms of overall income distribution, and last year’s figure shows that income inequality in Taiwan has been more serious than expected in recent years.
Furthermore, the agency found that average household savings were NT$274,032 last year, the second-highest on record and lower only than NT$275,000 a year earlier, with families in the top income bracket continuing to accumulate wealth as their average savings rose to NT$869,559 from NT$864,115 in 2021, whereas those in the bottom bracket were still not able to make ends meet as the situation of negative savings remained unchanged for the 16th year in a row with a debt of NT$17,334 last year.
Former US president Barack Obama once said income inequality is the “defining challenge of our times,” while Pope Francis tweeted that “Inequality is the root of social evil.” Many experts believe income inequality inevitably leads to social instability and disorder, and even political turmoil.
In Taiwan, facing an increasing number of Chinese military movements in its air defense identification zone and territorial waters in recent years, a deteriorating income distribution would also affect citizens’ willingness to defend their country, according to an analysis by Wu Wen-chin (吳文欽), research fellow of the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica.
In an article published by the Journal of Asian and African Studies in April, Wu argues that perceived unfair income distribution reduces citizens’ attachment to their country and inhibits their willingness to fight. Wu’s analysis also found that perceived unfairness in wealth distribution reduces non-rich citizens’ willingness to fight for their country by dampening their national pride, a key element in psychological attachment to national identity.
Wu’s research highlights the importance of an equitable distribution of wealth and resources, and, more importantly, it suggests that unfairness in wealth distribution threatens national security. As Taiwan faces rising threats from its big neighbor China, policymakers should take heed of worsening wealth distribution, as the nation would be most vulnerable when neither the rich nor the poor are willing to stand up and fight for their country.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to bully Taiwan by conducting military drills extremely close to Taiwan in late May 2024 and announcing a legal opinion in June on how they would treat “Taiwan Independence diehards” according to the PRC’s Criminal Code. This article will describe how China’s Anaconda Strategy of psychological and legal asphyxiation is employed. The CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) conducted a “punishment military exercise” against Taiwan called “Joint Sword 2024A” from 23-24 May 2024, just three days after President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in and
Former US president Donald Trump’s comments that Taiwan hollowed out the US semiconductor industry are incorrect. That misunderstanding could impact the future of one of the world’s most important relationships and end up aiding China at a time it is working hard to push its own tech sector to catch up. “Taiwan took our chip business from us,” the returnee US presidential contender told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview published this week. The remarks came after the Republican nominee was asked whether he would defend Taiwan against China. It is not the first time he has said this about the nation’s
In a recent interview with the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called President William Lai (賴清德) “naive.” As always with Ma, one must first deconstruct what he is saying to fully understand the parallel universe he insists on defending. Who is being “naive,” Lai or Ma? The quickest way is to confront Ma with a series of pointed questions that force him to take clear stands on the complex issues involved and prevent him from his usual ramblings. Regarding China and Taiwan, the media should first begin with questions like these: “Did the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
The Yomiuri Shimbun, the newspaper with the largest daily circulation in Japan, on Thursday last week published an article saying that an unidentified high-ranking Japanese official openly spoke of an analysis that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) needs less than a week, not a month, to invade Taiwan with its amphibious forces. Reportedly, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already been advised of the analysis, which was based on the PLA’s military exercises last summer. A Yomiuri analysis of unclassified satellite photographs confirmed that the PLA has already begun necessary base repairs and maintenance, and is conducting amphibious operation exercises