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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Elections & Politics

Taiwan Rolls Out 18-Point Plan to Boost Birthrate, Offering Up to NT$2.85 Million Per Child

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te announced an 18-point "New Population Strategy" to combat the declining birthrate, offering significant financial support for families.
  • The plan includes a monthly growth allowance for children aged 0-18, reproductive assistance, and childcare subsidies, potentially totaling NT$2.855 million per child.
  • The government also issued a cybersecurity warning about four Chinese apps, including Bilibili and iQIYI, which pose risks to user data.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has unveiled an ambitious 18-point "New Population Strategy - Family Support" aimed at tackling the nation's severe birthrate crisis. The comprehensive plan, announced after a high-level national security meeting, offers substantial financial incentives to encourage childbirth and support families from birth through adulthood.

Under the new strategy, a family can receive up to NT$2.855 million per child. This includes a NT$100,000 birth allowance, existing subsidies for childcare and education from 0 to 6 years old totaling NT$360,000, and a newly introduced growth allowance for children aged 0 to 18 years, amounting to NT$1.08 million. Additional support covers artificial reproductive technology, parental leave benefits, and childcare subsidies, reflecting a broad approach to family support.

This is a crucial step for Taiwan towards 'new public services.'

— Lai Ching-teDescribing the significance of the new population strategy.

The government is investing approximately NT$380 billion annually in these measures, representing 1% of the GDP, a figure comparable to South Korea's spending. Premier Cho Jung-tai will lead an executive task force to monitor the implementation of these policies. A key aspect of the strategy is the decoupling of marriage and childbirth, ensuring that support extends to unmarried women and recognizes diverse family structures.

In parallel, Taiwan's Digital Development Ministry issued a cybersecurity alert regarding four Chinese-developed applications. Beyond the navigation app "Gaode Map" (Amap), which exhibited 11 high-risk behaviors, the popular video platform "Bilibili" (B Station), the streaming service "iQIYI," and the chat app "BIMOBIMO" were also identified as posing significant risks. The ministry warned that these apps could expose Taiwanese users' personal data, location information, and sensitive details to potential collection by Chinese national security agencies.

The new strategy breaks from past thinking, adopting a 'marriage and childbirth decoupling' approach, where artificial reproduction and unmarried childbirth will be equally respected and cared for.

— Cho Jung-taiExplaining a key principle of the new population strategy.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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