Current policies to encourage fertility are inconsistent, ineffective and work at cross-purposes, a researcher said yesterday, adding that parental leave and child-rearing subsidies should be distributed equally among the public to effectively encourage fertility.
National Taiwan University associate professor Chen Yu-hua (陳玉華) presented her research results on Taiwanese attitudes toward fertility, behavioral changes and possible policy impacts at the National Science Council.
The nation’s fertility rate has dropped drastically in the past few decades, reaching a low of below 1 in 2010 before rising marginally to 1.07 last year, making Taiwan the owner of one of the lowest rates in the world, Chen said, adding that the situation has become even more pressing as the population ages.
Looking at Sweden’s success in increasing its fertility rate last year through a mix of social welfare and labor policies, shows that policies can affect individuals’ and families’ willingness to have children, Chen said.
However, it is difficult to establish such a social welfare system in Taiwan. In addition, the government must also be able to provide a large number of secure jobs for women, she added.
Chen said Germany has been able to increase its fertility rate without changing its social system, through the provision of childcare, maternity leave protection, parental leave and family allowances, which could serve as a model for Taiwan.
She said if economic concerns are the main reason why Taiwanese are hesitant to have children, then the government should adjust its current policies — which vary according to counties and cities, and between people on different vocational insurance programs — to make them more equal.
Having a different fertility encouragement policy in each area is inconsistent, Chen said, adding that while a parent on government employee, school staff, or military insurance can receive a childbirth subsidy worth two months of their salary, people on labor insurance receive a subsidy equal to just one month of their salary, and this is applicable only to mothers.
In addition, Ministry of the Interior data showed that although protected by the law, many women do not take parental leave or apply for subsidies, and that the majority of people who do make use of the subsidy were government employees or school staff, she said.
The government should review whether fertility policies should still be linked to different vocational insurance programs or whether it would be more effective to provide equal and substantial policies to support families, she said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS