A total of 151,411 babies were born in Taiwan in the first nine months of this year, down by 2,630, or 1.7 percent, from the same period last year, according to government statistics released yesterday.
The figure translates into a crude birth rate of 8.6 per 1,000 people, a decrease of 0.5 points from the previous year’s level, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
Between January and last month, outlying Lienchiang County had the highest crude birth rate at 8.9 per 1,000 people, while the lowest rate — 4.1 per 1,000 — was recorded in Chiayi County.
Penghu County saw the highest growth in crude birth rate at 0.5 points.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung all saw their crude birth rates decline, while Taoyuan recorded a rise of 0.4 points.
During the period, seven out of every 100 babies were born to a parent who is from China, Hong Kong, Macau or another nation.
Over the past 10 years, the proportion of babies born to a mother from China, Hong Kong or Macau has decreased from 5.1 percent to 3.3 percent, while the proportion of those born to a mother from other nations has also dropped from 6.6 percent to 2.8 percent, the data showed.
This is believed to be due to a decline in marriages between women from China or Southeast Asian countries and Taiwanese men during the period.
The reason for the drop in such marriages is believed to be that China and Southeast Asian countries — where many of Taiwan’s overseas brides have traditionally come from — are seeing relatively high economic growth, providing more opportunities for their people, including women, and making it less attractive for them to marry Taiwanese men and move to Taiwan.
In the first nine months of the year, the gender ratio among newborns was 108.1 boys for every 100 girls, which represents a decrease of 0.2 boys from the same period last year.
The government has been making efforts in recent years to narrow the gender gap at birth by outlawing gender selective abortions and encouraging people to value having daughters.
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