The Cabinet yesterday approved a White Paper on population policy aimed at increasing the fertility rate, which is now the lowest in the world.
The fertility rate hit 1.1 last year and the government would like to see it rise to 1.6 by 2015, the average rate for countries belonging to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
"The White Paper lists 125 measures to be implemented by 11 government departments that will help boost the fertility rate," Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) told a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting.
One measure would expand the scope of the educational subsidy for children under the age of five at two different stages. The threshold for households applying for the subsidy, currently set at an annual income of less than NT$600,000 (US$19,200), would be raised to NT$800,000 for the 2009 academic year and then to NT$1.1 million by 2011.
The amount of the subsidies, which vary according to household income and number of children, would also increase, with the maximum allotment jumping from NT$20,000 to NT$60,000.
The percentage of children under the age of five covered by the plan would increase from 85.57 percent now to 87.88 percent next year and to 93.39 percent by 2011, Lee said.
Other issues addressed in the White Paper include the increase in immigration and the nation's rapidly aging society.
The paper estimated that the total population of elderly would increase from 10 percent last year to 37 percent by 2051, while the dependency rate of the elderly will drop from 7.2 last year to 3.3 in 2026 and 1.5 in 2051, creating a heavy burden on the care system.
The White Paper says the number of foreign spouses registered between 1987 and last December was 399,038 and that 66 percent of them were from China, Hong Kong or Macau.
One of every 5.5 marriages was an international marriage and one in every 9.8 infants was born to a cross-national family, the paper said.
Lee said that the ministry had ruled out a suggestion that new regulations limit the number of foreign spouses.
"The ministry considered the suggestion inappropriate because foreign spouses give the country a pluralistic society, which we should cherish," Lee said.
"The reason to address our immigrant society is to help foreign spouses fit into society," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique