One-person households accounted for more than 40 percent of all registered households for the first time last year, while three-generation family households fell below 10 percent, Ministry of the Interior data showed, suggesting that Taiwanese society appears to be growing increasingly “lonely” as the nation’s birthrate continues to decline amid the “silver tsunami.”
Of the 9.85 million registered households in Taiwan last year, 3.99 million were one-person residences, surpassing 40 percent for the first time, the data showed.
That means at least four in every 10 households are made up of only one person, becoming the core unit of Taiwanese society, it showed.
Meanwhile, three-generation households with at least five members — which used to be a symbol of thriving families capable of caring for older family members — unprecedentedly dipped below 10 percent, or about 910,000 households, the data showed.
The decline of three-generation families not only reflected the nation’s declining birthrate and rural youth flight, but was also a warning that there might eventually be a lack of family support for the life and health of elderly people, a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The loneliest administrative area in Taiwan is not the metropolis with the fastest living pace, but an outlying island and traditional port towns, the data showed.
Penghu County’s one-person households account for 44.41 percent of all households in the county, the highest nationwide, followed by Keelung at 44.31 percent and Yilan County at 43.52 percent, it showed.
Most elderly people in these areas were living alone due to severe population outflows, the data showed.
New Taipei City has the most number of single-person households among the administrative areas, totaling 758,000, or 42.43 percent of all households in the city, it showed.
Although it is lower than Penghu County’s percentage, those households still represent a tough challenge for social welfare and lonely aging in New Taipei City, the data showed.
The official said the trend of loneliness is consistently developing nationwide.
Traditional social contracts such as “rearing children as an aging insurance” and family support are breaking down, which are urgent challenges posed by a super-aged society that the government has to address, they said.
The data also showed that there are no more “young cities” in Taiwan.
Hsinchu county and city, known as the technological hub of Taiwan, in 2024 had more children than elderly people, with an aging index below 100 percent, the data showed.
However, the situation changed last year due to population aging and low birthrates, with the county’s aging index reaching 101.88 percent and the city’s surging to 106.59 percent, it showed.
The oldest city among the six special municipalities is Taipei, with an aging index of 202.06 percent last year, followed by Kaohsiung at 192.1 percent, New Taipei City at 185.54 percent and Tainan at 184.96 percent, the data showed.
Taoyuan and Taichung — which were “young cities” four years ago, with aging indices lower than 100 percent — saw their indices rise to 127.33 percent and 136.45 percent respectively, the data showed.
Chiayi County remained on top of the list with an aging index of 291.69 percent, followed by Kinmen County’s 255.57 percent and Keelung’s 240.21 percent, it showed.
The aging indices of nine administrative areas, or nearly 25 percent, surpassed 200 percent last year, the data showed.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS