Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today.
The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population.
The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate.
This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data.
Since 2016, which saw 208,440 new births, the annual figure has declined every year.
The result is that those under 14 represent only 11.72 percent of the total population with 2,742,386 people falling into that group.
Meanwhile, 69.1 percent of the population, 16,169,127 people, are 15–64 years old, and 19.18 percent, 4,488,707, are 65 and older.
Taiwan is soon to pass the threshold of a “super-aged society,” in which 20 percent of the population is 65 and above.
Projections from the National Development Council showed that Taiwan’s population will continue to decline from 23.4 million in 2024 to 14.97 million by 2070, with the percentage of elderly projected to increase to 46.5 percent by that year.
The country’s demographics are a serious problem, and the government is working hard on multifaceted efforts to help mitigate the issue, National Development Council Deputy Minister Kao Shien-quey (高仙桂) said.
The government said it is considering efforts to expand the scope of artificial reproduction subsidies, extending maternity leave allowance, promoting participation in the workforce and looking at potential uses of artificial intelligence to reduce manpower needs.
The government is also looking at ways to maintain fiscal stability as the number of taxpayers decreases while social welfare costs increase.
Even if the government reverses the current low birth rate, children will take 20 years to enter the labor force after their birth, meaning that the government has to address issues in parallel, Kao said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS