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.
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