Taiwan’s population fell for a 34th straight month in October, as residents 65 and older reached 20.79% of the total, above the World Health Organization’s threshold for a super-aged society.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) put Taiwan’s population at about 23.204 million at October’s end. That was 9,251 below September’s count and 106,853 lower than a year earlier, an average daily decline of 292.75 people.
Older residents numbered 4,823,709. The World Health Organization uses population-share thresholds of 7% for an aging society, 14% for an aged society and 20% for a super-aged society.
Children younger than 15 accounted for 11.18% of residents, or 2,595,252 people. Those ages 15 to 64 made up 68.03%, totaling 15,785,039. Among local jurisdictions, Taipei had the highest share of residents 65 and older at 24.95%, while Hsinchu County had the lowest at 15.59%, MOI data showed.
October births numbered 8,035 after rising by 331 from September; compared with a year earlier, the count was down by 1,423. The MOI recorded 17,393 deaths, with increases of 681 month to month and 1,485 year over year.
The annual crude birth rate was 4.08 per 1,000 people, while the crude death rate was 8.82 per 1,000. The monthly figures equated to roughly one birth every 5.6 minutes and one death every 2.6 minutes, the ministry said.
Penghu had the highest October crude birth rate among localities, at 5.52 per 1,000 people; Keelung City had the lowest, at 2.40. Pingtung County recorded the highest crude death rate, 12.76 per 1,000, while Taoyuan had the lowest, at 6.79.
From January through October, Taiwan recorded 77,481 births and 166,203 deaths, according to MOI data.
