Taiwan's total fertility rate has dropped below 0.7 for the first time in history, recording the world's lowest level. While South Korea, previously at the bottom of the low-birth-rate rankings, has shown signs of recovery, Taiwan has become the country with the lowest birth rate among major nations.
Taiwan's Liberty Times reported on January 6 (local time), citing Ministry of the Interior statistics, that Taiwan's total fertility rate was recorded at 0.695 last year. This fell significantly below the government's projection of 0.87. Following South Korea's fertility rate rebounding to 0.75 in 2024 and additional increases in births last year, Taiwan has effectively solidified its position as having the world's lowest fertility rate.
Last year, Taiwan recorded 107,812 births and 104,376 marriages, both all-time lows. The National Development Council (NDC), Taiwan's policy planning agency, is expected to release its latest population projection report containing these findings in August, forecasting that annual births will fall below 100,000 after 2040.
The pace of population decline has also accelerated. The projected year when Taiwan's population will be halved has been moved forward by five years, from 2070 to 2065. If current trends continue, the proportion of Taiwan's middle-aged and elderly population (ages 45-64) is expected to exceed 60% by 2070, surpassing the previous estimate of 55.9%.
Taiwan's population exceeded 20 million in 1989, peaked at 23,603,100 in 2019, and has been declining since. The decline in fertility rate has been a long-term trend. After hitting a low of 0.9 in 2010, it recovered to the 1.0 range before falling back to the 0-point range in 2020.
The Taiwan government has introduced childbirth support measures but has been unable to overcome structural limitations. Since January, Taiwan's Executive Yuan has been providing birth subsidies of 100,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 4.61 million won) per infant and 200,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 9.22 million won) for twins.
However, housing and wage issues remain obstacles. Average home prices in Taipei have nearly tripled since 2000, while real wage growth during the same period averaged only around 1%. Within this structure, the Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology diagnosed that low real wages, soaring housing prices, and high childcare costs are the fundamental causes driving young people away from marriage and childbirth, emphasizing that "simple birth subsidies cannot stop this decline."