More than 60 percent of disadvantaged families have struggled to afford water and electricity, a survey released on Tuesday showed.
The survey, conducted by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families from March 25 to April 30, found that 61.2 percent of disadvantaged families have at some point been unable to pay their water and electricity bills, with 35.5 percent of those surveyed living in so-called “energy poverty,” spending more than 10 percent of their household income on utilities, the fund said.
The survey found that 36.5 percent of disadvantaged families did not have a desk at home, 9.6 percent did not have a bed and 33.5 percent said that their refrigerator had been in use for more than 10 years, the fund said.
Asked about their homes, 70.4 percent of the families said that their walls have cracks or have accumulated crystalline deposits, 42.4 percent said that they experience water leakage and 31.7 percent said that either their doors or windows were damaged, or that they could not be fully shut, the survey found.
Seventy-one percent of the families were worried that an earthquake would cause damage to their home, while 66.7 percent were concerned that a typhoon would result in damage, it found.
The survey showed that 41.1 percent of the families were unable to provide their children with a “comfortable living environment.”
Fifty-seven-point-one percent of the families reported a monthly household income of less than NT$25,000 [US$876], and COVID-19 has made this year especially challenging for them, the fund said
The survey collected 1,041 valid responses from primary caregivers of students in grades 3 to 7 who receive support from the fund, it said.
The survey had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percentage points, the fund added.
With the Lunar New Year holidays approaching, fund chief executive Betty Ho (何素秋) urged the public to donate to the fund, which aims to raise NT$50 million.
Also on Tuesday, the Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare said that as the Executive Yuan, and other central and local government agencies, have allowed youth representatives to sit on various committees, the possibility of establishing a youth council in the legislature should be explored.
Young people can help formulate and implement policies, the alliance said.
Additional reporting by Peng Wan-hsin and CNA
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