The Causes of Low Birth Rates in Taiwan

I believe that everyone has heard the term “DINK (double income no kids)” before. This term describes couples who both have incomes but no kids. Nowadays, young generations prefer to be DINKs. Some young couples have no more than one kid, and most of them don’t even have one. The birth rate of the world is getting lower, and Taiwan is one of the countries that have dropping number of births each year. According to the data provided from National Statistics, R.O.C. (Number and Rates of Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce, 2020), the number of births in 2019 was below 180,000, hitting a record low within recent years. However, what exactly are the causes of low birth rate in Taiwan? As far as I’m concerned, there are three main related reasons which are related to the declining numbers of births.

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First of all, young people are more educated and career-minded nowadays. Times are changing. Young people nowadays have their own thoughts to possess and dreams to pursue, especially for women. Unlike women in the past who stayed home taking care of their husbands and children after they got married, most women in this era prefer to work outside instead of staying home being housewives because they’ve got higher degrees of education as well as their own professions. As a result of preferring to get jobs or having their own careers, having children may seem to most people an impediment. In a research of employment status of married women aged from 15 to 64 (National Statistics, R.O.C.), the percentage of women who ever quitted jobs because of childbirth has increased a lot from 0.73% in 1979 to 7.41% in 2016, showing that it has become harder to balance careers and children raising for people nowadays.

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Second, following the fact that people are more career-minded these years, overtime time working is thus getting more and more common. In order to pursue their own dreams, young people are willing to spend more time on their jobs rather than on their families. According to a line graph made by Dotti Sani and Treas (The Economist, 2017), parents, especially those who are university-educated, tend to spend more time taking care of their children these days. They take the child-caring job more seriously; therefore, most of them think twice before deciding whether to have children, not to mention those who are more career-minded. Since spending more time at work means less time left for families and having children means continuous companion, it’s difficult for us to be career-oriented and to spend most time with families at the same time. Moreover, most couples are tired enough after work, so they probably won’t take another time-consuming children-raising mission.

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Although people work hard to meet both ends; unfortunately, low wages in Taiwan make it hard for young couples to have children. According to a research done by Roy Ngerng in CommonWealth Magazine in 2019, Taiwan went from having the highest minimum wages in 1989 to the lowest today, comparing with South Korea, Spain, Slovenia, Malta, Greece, and Portugal. Having a family could cost a lot. For example, one has to buy a house and a car to provide his or her family with a life condition with good quality. That wages and cost of life are not well-balanced thus becomes one of the reasons that young couples may give up the idea of having children.

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As the causes demonstrated above, the main reasons of the low birth rate in Taiwan are that people take careers more seriously than having families, that they spend more time at work than at home, and that they receive low wages commonly.  The interplay between economy and personal will play an important role in whether couples want to have children. Although the low birth rate could affect the society in many aspects, it’s crucial for couples to think deeply before they get into the further stage of life.

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References

National Statistics, R.O.C. (2020). Number and Rates of Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce. Retrieved from:

        https://www.stat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=15409&CtNode=3622&mp=4

National Statistics, R.O.C. EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF MARRIED WOMEN AGED 15-64 YEARS. Retrieved from:

        https://www.stat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=41359&CtNode=1854&mp=4

The Economist. (2017). Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago. Retrieved from:

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2017/11/27/parents-now-spend-twice-as-much-time-with-their-children-as-50-years-ago

Roy Ngerng. (2019). Taiwan’s Sluggish Minimum Wage Growth Has Fallen Behind Its Contemporaries. Retrieved from:

        https://english.cw.com.tw/article/article.action?id=2522