According to a recent survey, 21.2 percent of the elderly in southern Taiwan are depressed about their quality of life or reported being depressed at least once in their lives.
That figure is higher than those of Europe and the US. Comparing Taiwan to other Chinese communities, such as Singapore, the rate is three times higher.
The figures for the rest of the world are: the US, 16.2 percent; England, 9.5 percent; Canada, 11.2 percent and Singapore, 6 percent.
The results appear to indicate that elderly persons living in southern Taiwan are less than satisfied with their state of affairs.
The survey was commissioned by the UN's World Health Organization and conducted by Dr Chang Min-yong (張明永), chief of the Department of Psychiatry at Kaohsiung Medical Center.
Two-and-a-half years after conducting the survey in Tainan City, Tainan County, Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County and visiting over 1,500 people in these areas, Chang found that for every five people interviewed one of them was depressed.
Most suffered from symptoms of insomnia and lack of appetite.
Chang also indicated that persons living in metropolitan areas are less happy than those living in rural areas.
Older women living alone were 2.5 times less happy than the average person. As these women become older, he said, their depression increases in severity.
Doctors say Taiwan's need to care for its senior citizens will increase considerably in the future, a role in which Chang says the government should play a more active role.
Traditionally known for respecting the elderly, Taiwan is now facing many of the same problems as other developed countries such as Japan and the US, such as the increasing trend of institutionalizing the elderly instead of having them live with relatives.
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