The population of Pingtung County last year dipped to 835,792, the 15th consecutive year of decline, government statistics showed.
Pingtung saw 3,400 more deaths than births, while residents moving out exceeded those moving in by 2,000, reflecting a population deficit caused by both social and natural causes, the Pingtung County Government said.
Pingtung had a population of 465,000 in 1950 and peaked at 913,000 in 1997, the county government said, adding that the county’s population has since seen annual declines since 2002.
Despite more than half of Pingtung’s 33 townships implementing childbirth subsidies — ranging from NT$2,000 to tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars — a National Audit Office report for last year said the county’s birthrate was among the three lowest in the nation.
The subsidies are an inadequate solution to the population decline issue, Pingtung residents said, adding that better work opportunities, education and childcare facilities were more important.
Pingtung is not the only county facing a declining population, county officials said, adding that it is a common problem in the south due to the disproportionate allocation of resources to the north.
Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) has said that the declining population was his greatest challenge, adding that his primary task was to increase job opportunities and stem the outflow of people.
According to Pan, since he was elected in 2014, more than 25 manufacturing firms have invested in Pingtung and would begin hiring residents in June, which conservative estimates said could generate 6,000 jobs.
Statistics showed that Taitung County has been losing 1,500 residents annually, signaling that the Taitung County Government’s birthrate stimulus policies have been ineffective.
Taitung’s population peaked at 291,110 in 1975, but has been decreasing annually to 220,802 last year, the Taitung County Government said.
There were fewer job opportunities in Taitung, which caused young people to leave home to find work in other regions, it added.
There has been an increase in job opportunities in recent years, but most were in the tertiary sector, the Taitung County Government said, adding that because most of Taitung’s population are older people, the annual average death rate has exceeded the birth rate.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS