Monthly births fell below 7,000 for the first time last month, marking the 26th consecutive month that Taiwan’s population has decreased, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
There were 6,523 births last month, a decrease of 2,200 births compared with January, showing a 25.2 percent drop.
As of the end of last month, Taiwan’s population was 23,280,273.
That is 104,431 fewer than this time last year, falling an average of 285.87 per day, the ministry said.
It is 8,772 less than the population was in January, it said.
Looking at cities and counties, compared with the same time last year, Taoyuan had the highest population growth at 0.6 percent, followed by Hsinchu County at 0.29 percent and Taichung at 0.18 percent.
The largest population declines were in Kinmen County at 2.5 percent, Lienchiang County (Matsu) at 1.96 percent and Taipei at 1.87 percent.
Penghu County had the highest crude birthrate last month at 5.62 per 1,000 people, followed by Taitung County at 4.95 per 1,000 and Hualien County at 4.68 per 1,000.
The lowest were Keelung at 2.54 per 1,000, Tainan at 2.85 per 1,000 and Lienchiang County at 2.87 per 1,000.
In addition, there were 14,881 deaths last month, averaging about one death every 2.7 minutes and 2,648 fewer than in January.
Furthermore, there were 6,733 marriages last month, 199 of which were same-sex couples, and 2,995 divorces, 56 of which were same-sex couples.
As of the end of last month, 11.46 percent of Taiwan’s population was aged up to 14, 68.32 percent was 15 to 64 and 20.22 percent was over 65.
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