Taipei is offering newlyweds the chance to win NT$200,000 in an effort to halt an exodus of families from the capital to neighboring cities.
The lottery was one of several measures Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) announced on Tuesday to reverse the city’s declining population, which experts have attributed to a combination of soaring housing costs, low wages and a lack of childcare subsidies.
People with their household registration in Taipei who marry between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 would be entered into the lottery, Huang said.
Photo: Tsai Szu-pei, Taipei Times
The lottery is to feature a NT$50,000 monthly draw, a NT$100,000 quarterly draw and an annual draw for NT$200,000, she said.
Ten winners are picked each month, five each quarter and 10 each year, but winners in each round are ineligible for subsequent draws.
Based on figures from last year, newlyweds would have a 1.3 percent chance of winning a cash prize, Huang said, adding that same-sex couples could also take part in the lottery.
However, even the top prize is unlikely to provide much help to Taipei couples with ambitions of homeownership.
A Ministry of the Interior report issued on Sept. 30 last year called the ability of Taipei residents to manage a mortgage “overtly low,” as an avearage earner would need to save 15.79 years of income to match the price of an average property in the capital.
The measures also include a one-off third-child subsidy increase from NT$25,000 to NT$30,000.
Taipei’s third-child subsidy was already more than those offered in New Taipei City and Keelung, Huang said.
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