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Taiwan: Age
disparity on the rise, MOI reports Central News
Agency, July 16, 2003 Taiwan
- The ratio of people aged 65 or over to Taiwan's total population has
reached 9.1 percent this year, up from 8.9 percent a year earlier, the
Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The
rise indicates that the local population has grayed further, an MOI
official said, adding that the trend is even more evident in the
countryside and outlying islands. According
to the latest MOI statistics, the ratio of senior citizens to children in
the offshore island county of Penghu has hit 80 percent this year, marking
the highest figure among the nation's 25 cities and counties. Kinmen
ranks second with a ratio of 73 percent, followed by Chiayi County in
southern Taiwan. Taichung City in central Taiwan boasts the lowest ratio
of elderly to children. The
MOI official said the surge in the senior citizen ratio is a natural
phenomenon in a nation's development. "It indicates progress in our
medical services and a drop in the birth rate," he noted. In
comparison, the official said, Taiwan's ratio of senior citizens to
children is still lower than advanced Western countries and Japan, but is
higher than many other Asian countries, including Singapore and South
Korea. Meanwhile,
the urban-rural gap in terms of senior citizen to child ratio in Taiwan is
widening with the nation's development, the official noted. While young
people leave their hometowns for academic and career pursuits in large
cities, he added, older people stay in rural backwaters. The
official pointed out four major trends in population movement in Taiwan,
namely a population shift from east to west, from the outlying islands to
Taiwan proper, from the countryside to the cities, and from the mountain
regions to the plains. Noting that
the graying of the population in rural areas and the offshore islands has
brought about new social problems, the official said the government must
overhaul the nation's medical and welfare service systems. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
