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.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
MARITIME SECURITY: Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a ‘threat’ for various reasons, including the amount of time they spent loitering near subsea cables, the CGA said Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables. The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan. The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously. Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt
RSS