Taiwan’s population last year fell for the first time, as the nation continued to experience a low birthrate and an aging population, the Ministry of the Interior said.
At the end of last year, the total population stood at 23,561,236 people, down 41,885 people, or 0.18 percent, from 2019, new statistics released by the Department of Household Registration showed.
Fertility last year showed a sharp decline, with 165,249 births, down 7.04 percent from 2019, while mortality edged lower with 173,156 deaths, down 1.78 percent, the statistics showed.
The number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 7,907 people, contributing to the nation’s overall population decline.
The rest of the decline is attributable to negative net migration.
The total number of deaths exceeded the number of births from January to September, while births exceeded deaths from October to December, the department said.
The low birthrate is roughly in line with projections made by the National Development Council last year.
A report released by the council in August last year showed that Taiwan began to experience negative population growth in January last year, after peaking at 23.6 million people in 2019.
The nation is on track to become a super-aged society by 2025, meaning that one in five people would be aged 65 or older, mainly due to the falling birthrate and the rapidly aging population, the report said.
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