Posted on 05/19/2010 12:15:19 PM PDT by GOPGuide
Taipei, May 14 (CNA) Taiwan's birth rate has been dwindling over the last few decades and had dropped to an average of 1.03 births per woman last year from 3.09 recorded in 1976, according to data released Friday by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
The number of births in 2009 fell to 191,310 from 425,125 recorded in 1976, while the crude birth rate -- the annual number of births per 1,000 of the total population -- was only 8.29 last year, a big drop from 25.92 in 1976. Both figures are new record lows, the MOI statistics show.
The MOI attributed Taiwan's low birth rate to fewer marriages, people getting married later and increased use of birth control.
The number of marriages amounted to a high of 181,642 in 2000 from 152,401 in 1976, before beginning a downward trend that saw the figure drop to 117,099 last year. The 2009 crude marriage rate fell to 5.07 from 25.92 in 1976, according to the MOI data.
The MOI report also found that the average age for men to get married last year was 33.9, compared with 27.9 in 1976, while for women, it was 30.3, compared with 23.8 in 1976.
The number of divorces, meanwhile, dropped to 57,223 last year after breaking 10,000 in 1976 and hitting a high of 64,866 in 2003.
Taiwan's crude divorce rate was 2.55 in 2007, lower than the 3.6 in the United States, 2.63 in Switzerland and 2.58 in South Korea, but higher than Japan's 2.02, the United Kingdom's 2.36 and France's 2.11, according to the MOI data. (By Chiachen Hsieh and Y.L. Kao) ENDITEM/J
Taiwan's birth rate is almost as low as Europe's.
Taiwan enters the Post Industrial World.
The young are all leaving the country—many to the US.
That birth rate is well below replacement. Absent immigration, the population of Taiwan will shrink pretty rapidly at that rate.
I thought I read somewhere that our birth rate is like 1.10 and that 1.11 is what is needed to maintain a level of workers needed to replace the retiring workers.
Here is your chance. :)
*sigh*
Of course, this is without accounting for immigration. The numbers you cite probably included immigration in their reckoning.
According to the CIA World Facbook, as of 2009 the fertility rate was 2.05 births per woman. As Oberon indicated, people commonly cite 2.1 as the replacement rate. And the rate is trending down.
However, the population is still growing—by about 1% per year—probably mostly due to immigration.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
Stunning irony that both Taiwan and the ChiComs have essentially arrived at at One Child Policy through opposing means.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.