Hualien County’s Fuli Township (富里) has attracted media attention for spending big to reverse a population decline of more than 25 percent since 2001.
Fuli is offering parents childbirth incentives and subsidies totaling NT$120,000 per newborn, the highest of any administrative area in the eastern county.
Hualien County Government data showed that the population of Fuli has dropped to 9,627 as of last month, down from 9,714 a year earlier and 9,840 in 2021.
Photo courtesy of Mennonite Christian Hospital
The population declined significantly in January 2021, when it fell to 9,983 from 10,004 a month earlier, the data showed.
The township had 13,510 registered residents at the end of 2001.
To raise the birthrate and encourage people to move to the agricultural township, the Fuli Township Office increased subsidies for new children to NT$80,000 on July 1 last year.
With a NT$20,000 nutritional supplement subsidy provided since January this year and a NT$20,000 childbirth subsidy offered by the county government, parents of a newborn in Fuli are entitled to up to NT$120,000 in government subsidies, which is also believed to be the highest in the country.
To qualify for the NT$80,000 subsidy, a new parent must be a resident of Fuli for at least six months and live in the township for at least three years after receiving the subsidy, the township office said.
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