Taiwan's declining birth rate difficult to reverse: Official

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) National Development Council (NDC) chief Liu Chin-ching (劉鏡清) said Thursday the decline in Taiwan's birth rate is difficult to reverse, as is the case in many developed countries.

In his report to the Legislature, Liu noted two problems that Taiwanese youths face which prevent them from having children. The first is difficulty finding a spouse, the second the burden of caring for their parents in old age.

In Taiwan the vast majority of children are born to married couples (96.25 percent in 2023), meaning that Taiwanese usually marry before having children, unlike Western societies, Liu further explained.

As a result, Taiwan's government needs to provide greater assistance with child-care, help married couples secure housing earlier or more easily, and relieve the burden on young people taking care of their parents, he said.

Responding to lawmakers' questions about the failure of government policies to boost the birth rate, Liu said that over the past 16 years Presidents Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) recognized that the population issue was a national security crisis that cannot be solved in a short period of time.

Indeed, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior's Department of Household Registration, the total fertility rate for women aged between 15-49 has dropped steadily from 1.06 percent in 2018 to 0.865 percent in 2023.

The NDC is working to optimize relevant programs, but would require an estimated budget of NT$50 billion (US$1.56 billion) to be effective. Moreover, for an even more comprehensive set of measures, the budget would need to increase to NT$100 billion annually, Liu added.

However, as there is currently no fixed budget for NDC programs to increase the birth rate, Liu expressed hope the government will instead draft special budgets.

The population issue is serious and will impact future taxes, consumption and the workforce, Liu said.

Regarding recruiting workers, the NDC is using artificial intelligence (AI) to help firms in key industries recruit talent by accurately targeting overseas individuals, digital nomads, foreign students and anyone with a connection to Taiwan, Liu added.

The government is also working to amend the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals to expand the talent pool.

The NDC released its biennial population report "Population Projections for the Republic of China (Taiwan): 2024-2070" a week earlier.

The report estimates that Taiwan's population, which has fallen every year since 2020, will drop from 23.4 million in 2024 to 14.97 million in 2070, with the youth population falling by 1.71 million, the working age population reducing by 9.2 million, and the elderly population increasing by 2.48 million.