The government is to raise childcare allowances by at least NT$1,500 (US$46.54) per month starting next year to try to boost the nation’s shrinking birthrate, the Executive Yuan said.
Starting on Jan. 1 next year, subsidies for parents with children younger than three attending public care centers are to be increased to NT$7,000 per month from NT$5,500, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Cabinet late on Monday.
Those using publicly subsidized private childcare centers or home babysitting services are to receive NT$13,000 a month, up from NT$8,500, it said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Additional childcare subsidies are to be offered to parents with two or three children and those from low-income or lower-middle-income families, it added.
The government budget for measures to counter the declining birthrate has grown from NT$15 billion in 2016 to a projected NT$120.1 billion next year, Chen said.
During that time, the number of new births has plummeted, falling from 193,844 in 2017 to 138,986 last year, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
New births in the first eight months of this year are trending slightly lower than last year, totaling only 88,935.
The number of births last year and early this year was likely affected by the spread of COVID-19 last year, when the pandemic was at its worst in the nation, but the downtrend has been steady since 2017.
Chen said the government would also inject NT$21.9 billion to fund tuition subsidies of at least NT$35,000 a year to all students at private universities starting in February next year to bridge the gap between private and public university tuition fees.
The average annual tuition fee at a public university is about NT$11,000, compared with NT$62,000 at private universities, Ministry of Education data showed.
The Cabinet’s latest announcement came in the wake of campaign pledges by New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, earlier the same day aimed at encouraging people to have more children.
Hou promised that if he is elected to implement a one-time housing subsidy of NT$1 million for households in an income tax bracket below 30 percent with three or more children and who do not own property.
Currently, households with three children who are in an income tax bracket below 20 percent are entitled to a monthly subsidy of NT$7,000.
The nation’s low birthrate has been driven by people getting married and having children at an older age, and by housing and childcare costs soaring, Hou said.
If elected, he would also offer a one-time subsidy of NT$20,000 for women aged 30 to 40 to freeze their eggs, along with an annual egg storage fee subsidy of NT$2,000 for a period of five years, or a maximum total subsidy of NT$30,000, he said.
The policy could benefit 30,000 individuals and would have a budget of NT$900 million, he added.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS