Taiwan’s Aging Population
Taiwan is on the brink of a national crisis. If you are someone that follows world politics, the first thing that comes to mind would most likely be the geopolitical tension between Taiwan and China. However, a more subtle and dangerous trend is brewing in Taiwan’s society: population aging. Population aging is a new phenomenon that has taken many countries by surprise. By definition, it simply means that the percentage of people above the age of 65 of the total population reaches a certain level that causes social and economic problems. Taiwan is home to a population of 23.6 million people with 16.07% of the population being elderly as of 2020. Ever since the 1960s (Taiwan’s economic miracle), Taiwan’s population has seen a steady rise, but as the nation enters a new stage of demographic development, the social issue of an aging population is starting to take a toll on the country. Luckily for Taiwan, population aging is still at a preventable stage.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people over the age of 65 are considered elderly. When the percentage of elderly in a nation reaches 7%, the society is considered as an aging society; when it reaches 14%, the society becomes an aged society and when it reaches 20% or above, the nation is considered a super-aged society. In November of 1992, the number of elderlies in Taiwan reached 1.49 million people, which was 7.1% of the population, signaling the nation’s entrance into an aging population. In 2020, that number doubled, with an elderly population of 3.8 million people, making up 16.2% of the population, qualifying for an aged society. It is projected that Taiwan will reach an elderly population of 7.5 million people by 2050, by then Taiwan will become a super-aged society (National Development Council). There are currently around 50 countries around the world that have reached an aged society (above 14%) with Japan topping at 28.2% elderly population (Population Reference Bureau). In short, Taiwan’s population is aging at a fast pace and without the right policy to combat this social problem, Taiwan could face the terrifying truth of a dying and unfunctional society.
Population aging is a naturally occurring phenomenon but the modern societies we now live in catalyzes the process. “Declines in fertility, changes in patterns of marriage, cohabitation, and divorce, increased levels of education among younger generations, and continued rural-to-urban and international migration” are reshaping the social structures of modern society, promoting demography of more elderly and fewer infants (United Nations). Along with this sped-up process are social and economic issues. Some of the common problems that accompany the aged population are increased disease spreading risks, discrimination, and most importantly increased pressure on the caretaking industry.
However, to effectively combat the pressing issue of population aging, we must first target the root of this issue: decreased birth rate. To keep the scope of this essay focused, the purpose of the essay is not to address two separate issues but one: population aging; instead, it proposes a 2-step policy, one domestic and another global, that would first solve the cause of population aging, which is decreased fertility, then ultimately addressing the solution to the overarching social-economic issue of the already aged population. Hence, the purpose of addressing decreased fertility first is essential to solving population aging.
2020 marked an important year for Taiwan as we, like every other nation in the world, had to fend off the covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, 2020 marked the year Taiwan first experienced negative population growth. In 2020, the country’s birthrate was 165,000 infants while the death rate was a little over 170,000 people, yielding a net population growth of negative (-)5,000 people (Department of Interiors). To put the significance of the issue in perspective, the population aging addressed here is unlike other developed countries where the birth rate simply decreased. However, in the case of Taiwan, the population is decreasing, which pushes the demography up and contributes to the larger issue of population aging.
The government has acknowledged the trend of decreased birth rate in recent years by providing NTD 2,500 per month of subsidies to families for every child they have between the ages of 0 to 2. On top of that, the government also opened up more than 1,200 public and non-profit kindergartens to encourage newly-wedded couples to have kids and to enjoy the benefits of attending public schools. All of these policies sound comprehensive but the actual implications and effectiveness put them in question. For one, the policies were implemented back in late 2010, yet the nation continues to experience a downtrend trend in the birth rate.
One of the major obstacles that continue to prevent most women from giving birth is work. As the global literacy rate increases, more women have higher education and pursue a career themselves. However, it is difficult for a woman to both work and take care of the child at the same time, discouraging birth. In recent years, the government realizes this sign and requires companies to provide working mothers with paid leaves and allowances. On paper, this policy seems welcoming to women that are considering having a child, but in reality, most women still fear from the unspoken rule that missing out on work would eventually lead to layoff.
The policy of providing pregnant working women with allowances has the correct direction but lacks the logistics to make it successful. This is where the miracle of long-distance working comes into play. Given that zoom or other video conferencing applications are widely used nowadays, it becomes hard to imagine that technologies like these could have more potentials and change many more people’s lives. With the help of video conferencing, pregnant women could work at the comforts of their home and continue their work without the fear of being laid-off.
Another method that could encourage couples to have children is through monetary incentives. Aforementioned, the government provides subsidiaries to families with children, however, it simply is not enough. The standard of living in Taiwan and the expense to maintain a household simply out scales the government’s supports. To resolve this problem, the government builds more social housings and grants prioritized access to migrant household workers. By doing so, more couples could cut their expenses and the burden of having children.
Of course, there is a handful of ways the government could implement better policies that encourage birth rates to combat the negative population growth and population aging. In the current stages, the government’s policies are aimed in the right direction but lack innovative thinking and logistic supports.
The question of how to combat population aging continues to loom over the country, but it is not a simple question to answer as it involves the dynamics of migrant workers and Southeast Asian politics. What the government can do at this moment is to resolve its domestic problems that directly correlate with population aging. By elaborating on the existing policies, the government could potentially encourage more couples to have children and slow down the population aging crisis.
