Taiwan’s birthrate plummets below South Korea’s
With 4.62 births per thousand people and a fertility rate set to fall below 0.8, Taiwan reported the worst demographic figures in the world in 2025. Births have dropped by half in 10 years, and today more than 20 per cent of the population is over 65. In response, the government has proposed reforms in healthcare, welfare, and social assistance.
Taipei (AsiaNews) – Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country less prone to having children in the world, this according to data released last week by its Interior Ministry.
In 2025, the birthrate, which measures the number of births in the population per year per thousand people, is projected to fall to 4.62 births, the lowest level ever recorded since data were collected.
Last year, South Korea showed a slight recovery pushing Taiwan to the top ranking for the lowest total fertility rate, which measures the average number of children born per woman over a lifetime.
Taiwan's fertility rate is expected to drop to 0.8, while South Korea’s rose from 0.72 in 2023 to an estimated 0.82-0.85 last year.
South Korea's birthrate is expected to stand at 6.7 children per thousand people. Japan, another Asian country that has been experiencing population decline for years, is also expected to remain at five to six births per thousand people.
In Taiwan, by contrast, the demographic situation appears to be rapidly deteriorating. The birthrate in 2024 was 5.76 births per thousand.
According to official data, 107,812 children were born in 2025, a full 27,044 fewer than in 2024, when 134,856 births were recorded.
The birthrate has been declining for the past 10 years. In 2016, more than 208,000 children were born; since then, the number has constantly decreased, dropping below 200,000 as early as 2017.
At the same time, the overall population is also dropping. At the end of 2025, Taiwan’s population numbered 23,299,132, more than 100,000 fewer than the previous year, marking the second consecutive year of demographic decline.
This trend has led Taiwan to officially enter the category of "super-aged societies" according to the criteria set by the United Nations, with at least 20 per cent of the population over 65.
At the end of last month, the latter of people 65 and over numbered 4,673,155, 20.06 per cent of the total population. Children under 14 represent only 11.51 per cent, while the working-age group, between 15 and 64, represents 68.43 per cent.
Given the aging population, the natural balance remains significantly negative. Last year, 200,268 deaths were recorded, with a mortality rate of 8.58 per thousand people, significantly higher than the birthrate.
Marriages are also declining. In 2025, 104,376 couples married, almost 19,000 fewer than the previous year, while divorces totalled 52,101, slightly fewer than the previous year.
Taiwan’s Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang noted that the government had been aware for months of the country’s imminent entry into the “super-aging society” category.
In response, the ministry announced a plan structured around four areas of intervention: health promotion, decentralised care, benefit system reform, and the integration of new technologies, with the aim of adapting the medical and care systems to the profound demographic transformations underway.
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