The number of births, deaths and marriages in Taiwan in the first seven months of the year has declined from the same period last year, the Ministry of the Interior household registration statistics released on Friday showed.
A total of 110,379 babies were born from January to last month, down 7,033, or 6 percent, from the same period last year, the statistics showed.
The Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology last month said it was concerned over the low number of births this year.
Should the decline stay steady for the final five months of the year, about 196,000 babies would be born in Taiwan this year, it said.
That would be the lowest number since 2011 and the third-lowest since the early 2000s, when annual birth rates began to decline toward the current norm of between 195,000 and 210,000 a year.
It would also end a three-year streak in which births have been relatively strong. The number of babies born in Taiwan in 2014, 2015 and last year was 210,383, 213,598 and 208,440 respectively, higher than any year since 2004, with the exception of 2012.
Fewer couples wed in the first seven months as marriage registrations from January to last month totaled 80,874, down 4,445 from the same period last year, ministry statistics showed.
A total of 31,000 couples, 529 more than last year, filed for divorce in the first seven months, statistics showed.
If the trend holds to the end of the year, it would mean the number of divorces in Taiwan will rise for the third consecutive year after steadily declining between the mid-2000s and 2014.
The total number of people who died in Taiwan from January to last month was 101,047, down 2,828 year-on-year.
Should the number of deaths fall for the year as a whole, it would break a long-term trend that has seen the number of deaths in Taiwan rise steadily in recent decades as the population has grown and aged.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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