The latest data from the Ministry of the Interior showed that single-person and two-people households accounted for almost half of all households nationwide last year, suggesting a growing trend of singles and elderly people living alone, and couples with double income and no children.
As of the fourth quarter of last year, of the more than 7.73 million households nationwide, about 2.28 million, or nearly 30 percent, were single-person households, the data showed.
Combined with the more than 1.52 million two-people households, the figure surpassed 3.8 million, meaning that one in every 2.03 households was single-person or two-people household.
Photo: CNA
The percentages of single-person households in Taipei, New Taipei City and Kaohsiung have all exceeded 30 percent.
New Taipei City had the most single-person households, with 470,300, followed by Kaohsiung’s 296,400 households and Taipei’s and Taichung’s more than 250,000 households each.
Tainan was the only special municipality that had fewer than 200,000 single-person households.
Two-person households in Taipei, New Taipei City and Kaohsiung all accounted for more than half of the total, while they accounted for more than 46 percent in Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan, the data showed.
That means smaller households have become common in the six special municipalities.
The data also showed that there were about 746,600 households comprising only elderly people as of the first quarter of last year. The number rose to 803,600 in the fourth quarter.
The number of households with elderly people living alone reached 611,700 as of the fourth quarter last year, surpassing 600,000 for the first time since statistics began in 2009, the data showed.
Housing researcher Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) yesterday said that the problem of low birthrates has been aggravated by the trend of staying unmarried and childless, and has become a national security concern.
The government should offer subsidies to encourage people to get married and have children, he said.
That could counteract the trend of people staying unmarried and childless, and reduce the number of single-person households, Ho said.
Newly emerging industrial clusters have replaced traditional municipalities to offer employment and housing opportunities, and resulted in more single-person households, Colliers International Taiwan’s Landlord Representation Services director Andy Huang (黃舒衛) said.
Rising divorce rates, the trend of not getting married and women’s financial independence have impacted demographic trends and family structures, Huang said.
Labor migration due to unstable employment and the Taiwanese custom to spend retirement years at home also led to the trend of elderly people living alone, he said.
Such households result from an aging population and high divorce rate, Ho said.
While providing proper care and mental counseling for elderly people is important at the present stage, the issue of abandoned housing would ensue in 20 to 30 years when the elderly people pass away and leave their housing behind uninherited and unattended, he said.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
UPGRADED MISSILE: The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology is reportedly to conduct a live-fire test of the Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile on Thursday next week The US Army is planning to build new facilities to boost explosives production and strengthen its supply chain, a move aimed at addressing munitions shortages and supporting obligations to partners including Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel, Defense News reported. The army has issued a sources sought notice for a proposed Center of Excellence at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the report said. The facility would serve as a hub within the US industrial base for the production of key military explosives, including research department explosives (RDX) and high melting explosives (HMX), while also supporting research and development of next-generation materials. The proposed
SOUTH KOREA DISPUTE: If Seoul continues to ignore its request, Taiwan would change South Korea’s designation on its arrival cards, the foreign ministry said If South Korea does not reply appropriately to a request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, the government would take corresponding measures to change how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. Taipei has asked Seoul to change the wording. Since March 1, South Koreans who hold government-issued Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) have been identified as from “South Korea” rather than the “Republic of Korea,” the
RSS