Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report.
A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older.
The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018.
In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said.
That means there were about four working-aged Taiwanese for every person aged 65 or older who needed support, down from five last year, it said.
Chiayi County was the oldest region with 22.77 percent of its population aged 65 or older, followed by Taipei at 22.51 percent, Nantou County at 21.28 percent, Yunlin County at 20.85 percent, Keelung at 20.76 percent, Pingtung County at 20.54 percent and Hualien County at 20.2 percent, the report said.
Taipei and Keelung likely made the list due to the draw of better access to medical resources in the cities, the ministry said.
Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, Lienchiang County and Taoyuan were the youngest regions with people older than 65 accounting for 14.25 percent, 15.06 percent, 15.4 percent and 15.48 percent of the local population respectively, it said.
The prevalence of young people in the jurisdictions — especially in Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s semiconductor industry — were likely linked to the high availability of jobs or other geographical factors, the ministry said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Wu Chun-cheng (吳春城) last week introduced a bill urging the government to adjust its economic policy to account for the country’s aging population.
The bill, cosigned by legislators from across party lines, calls for replacing official language referring to “old age” and “senior citizens” with terms such as “the long-lived” and “of the strong generation.”
Taiwan is expected to lose 10 million people from its population in the next five decades to become the fastest-aging society in the world, Wu wrote in the bill’s statement of purpose, citing National Development Council data.
The nation must establish a basic law to address the aging crisis, as Japan did 30 years ago, he said, adding that Taiwan cannot afford inaction.
A Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the bill’s proponents should provide a clearer definition for terms such as “the strong generation” before passing amendments.
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