The government would continue to layer and review policies to address the national security challenge posed by the nation’s low birthrate, an official said yesterday.
The nation’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell to 0.695 last year, down from 0.885 in 2024, the sharpest decline on record, latest data released by the Ministry of the Interior showed.
TFR refers to the average number of babies a woman would have during her lifetime. A rate of 2.1 or higher is needed for a population to replace itself without migration.
Photo: CNA
The number of marriages in Taiwan, a leading indicator of births, dropped to just more than 100,000, also a record low, the data showed.
Despite significant budget increases for relevant subsidies to address the problem, the nation’s birthrate continues to decline, underscoring the complexity of the issue and the difficulty of reversing the trend, a National Development Council official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The government has introduced a series of rolling policy updates, including flexible parental leave without pay, amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法), expanding corporate childcare services and family-friendly workplace initiatives, as well as housing and subsidy programs aimed at encouraging marriage and childbirth, they said.
Efforts to address the issue date back to 2017 when the Ministry of Health and Welfare established a special interdepartmental office under then-minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to formulate new policies to counteract low birthrates.
As the issue became a “national security crisis” in the following year, the initiative was upgraded to Executive Yuan level.
After President William Lai (賴清德) took office in May 2024, the task force was reorganized, with Chen, who became a minister without portfolio, overseeing population policy and low fertility countermeasures.
Interagency meetings were held intensively from late 2024 to last year to formulate a new plan to counteract low birthrates in the coming three years.
The new plan includes a comprehensive review of previous policy outcomes and draws on international experience, proposing measures to address key issues such as delayed marriage and childbearing, financial burdens and workplace conditions, the official said.
The plan includes promoting the national childcare policy 2.0, expanding access to affordable childcare, enhancing social and matchmaking opportunities for young people, offering housing and tax incentives, as well as improving maternal and infant healthcare services, they said.
The government aims to integrate resources across ministries and implement rolling policy adjustments to create an environment where young people feel confident to marry and have children, they said.
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