The number of registered disabled people totaled 1.06 million at the end of June, up 10,000, or 0.9 percent, from the same time last year, Ministry of the Interior figures showed yesterday.
The ministry said the disabled population has been growing in recent years — accounting for 4.6 percent of the total population at the end of June, up 0.03 percentage point year-on-year.
The number of male disabled people was 610,175, compared with females at 454,164.
ORGAN DYSFUNCTION
Those with missing limbs represented the largest group — at 36.5 percent — of the total disabled population, followed by those with organ dysfunction at about 11 percent.
Among the disabled categories showing a year-on-year growth, the number of people diagnosed with autism increased the most at 11 percent, while those with Alzheimer’s disease rose by 8.7 percent.
Among the disabled over the age of 18, missing limbs accounted for about 38 percent, while in the disabled under 18 years old, 37 percent suffered from mental disabilities.
HIGHEST
The percentage of disabled people in Taitung County was the highest in the country — at 8.9 percent, followed by 7.5 percent in Hualien County and 7.1 percent in Yunlin County, the ministry said.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
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