About one-third of Taipei residents aged 40 or older are single, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday as he promoted the city government’s cash lottery program to encourage city residents to get married.
Speaking at a lottery prize award ceremony at Taipei City Hall on White Day yesterday, Ko said he wishes all lovers get married and live happily ever after.
White Day is a Japanese observance related to Valentine’s Day.
Photo: CNA
In 2020, the number of births dropped below the number of deaths in Taiwan, and the populations of Taipei and Taiwan are both declining, so the low birthrate is an important issue that the nation has to deal with, he said, adding that some even consider it a national security issue.
The cash lottery program is for couples married this year who both must be Taipei residents to qualify. Ten cash prizes of NT$50,000 each every month, five cash prizes of NT$100,000 each are to be drawn every season and 10 cash prizes of NT$200,000 are to be drawn this year.
Ko said the city has found that the low birthrate is not caused by young married couples unwilling to have children, but rather by young people unwilling to get married.
“In the past 25 years, the percentage of single residents aged 40 or older rose from 12 percent to 35 percent and now about one-third of the city’s residents aged 40 or older are single,” he said.
Ko said only about 2 percent of births in Taiwan occurred outside of marriage, and most couples only have children after they marry, so the city government wants to encourage young people to marry as the first step to solving the low birthrate.
The nation registered about 114,000 marriages last year, including about 11,000 couples in Taipei, the lowest numbers in 50 years, which might continue to fall, Ko said.
Although the city government does not believe a NT$50,000 cash prize would be enough to convince a couple to marry, it hopes that it can become a marriage promotional campaign, he said.
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