Taiwan said on Friday the government may start paying people to have children in order to boost the island's dwindling birth rate, one of the lowest in the world.

Among the proposals being considered is a monthly subsidy of 5,000 Taiwan dollars ($A174) for all children under the age of three, the interior ministry said, a move which would cost 36 billion Taiwan dollars a year.

"The ministry hopes to raise the public's willingness to have children with measures that help them look after their children and improve their living standards," it said in a statement.

Taiwan's authorities have been offering various incentives to encourage births, amid growing concerns that a severe manpower shortage will trigger serious social and economic problems.

The ministry last month kicked off an on-line contest for a slogan that would "make everybody want to have children" with a cash prize of one million Taiwan dollars for the winner.

The response was overwhelming, with more than 1,000 entries only hours after it started, causing the ministry to upgrade its systems after its website was temporarily paralysed by the traffic.

The island's birth rate stood at 8.29 per 1,000 people last year, according to official figures. That compares with a global average of more than 20 births per 1,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Lao Song Elementary School in Taipei - which set a world record in 1966 as the school with the most pupils at 11,000 - now has only 778, the China Times newspaper said.

Last year 191,310 babies were born in Taiwan, down almost four per cent from the previous year.

Nawaahhhhooooooo

and in the same Asia, china pays couples not to have babies

taiwan here we go

How are u nairalander's

Its been a while~

Can they come and take some of ours? Its funny how this world works.

Ebonyeyes:

Can they come and take some of ours? Its funny how this world works.

they are not looking for blackanese

If some despirate boyz 4 9ja hear this info, them fit enter yiawon go make moey there, if possible open baby factory. lol

na2day?:

they are not looking for blackanese

I thought as much, lol,

there was talk of doing this in germany and japan a few years ago. also talk in india about creating a one child law like china

Australia used to give a birth grant of $2500, I'm not sure if this is still the case

I am hoping Nigeria control its own population.

Bad deal for condom manufacturing industries!

violent:

Bad deal for condom manufacturing industries!

Chei! You are already doing industrial analysis.

Maybe it is time to buy shares in mothercare producer companies in Taiwan.

Hehe, paying couples to give birth, !

violent:

Bad deal for condom manufacturing industries!

hehehe yeaaaah, bad deal 4 dem bro.

wait a minute,can some show me d way 2 taiwan, coz i got some investment to make

If them try am for naija, dem go broke die!!

Check ur search engin like google,ask.com

African counties especially sub saharan ones are in the stone age of thoughtlessness.
Y?
Case study-Nigeria is still yet to conduct a census agreeable to all because of politics.
Nigeria is the only country in the West African region where the population increases as U go up country when it is globally known that people settle more around coastal regions.
Can U imagine 'bedlam, traffic and refuse ridden Lagos' ranking behind Kano in population?
The Taiwanese can do this because they are forward thinking and ever planning.
Same goes for Yankee thus the Visa lottery
But here in Africa all our problems are left to be solved by 'God'.
Then you wonder why He gave us brains.

Nice move by the govt.

ochukoccna:

African counties especially sub saharan ones are in the stone age of thoughtlessness.
Y?
Case study-Nigeria is still yet to conduct a census agreeable to all because of politics.
Nigeria is the only country in the West African region where the population increases as U go up country when it is globally known that people settle more around coastal regions.
Can U imagine 'bedlam, traffic and refuse ridden Lagos' ranking behind Kano in population?
The Taiwanese can do this because they are forward thinking and ever planning.
Same goes for Yankee thus the Visa lottery
But here in Africa all our problems are left to be solved by 'God'.
Then you wonder why He gave us brains.

ouch# that should hurt.

Paying couples to give birth is a short term solution strategy. I give my opinion:let the taiwan govt relax TAX POLICY a little bit.

make dem go China go try am, they go end up bankrupt

troy34:

make dem go China go try am, they go end up bankrupt

And china is doing somewhat the opposite in order to control their population

offtopic,

Taiwan, or should I say Chinese-Taipei, was built by the Chinese ruling class who escaped China with all Chinas foreign reserves when Chairman Mao took over.

They need all the babies soldiers they can muster cos when China come back for revenge, na die them dey.

violent:

Bad deal for condom manufacturing industries!

;

violent:

Bad deal for condom manufacturing industries!

Good Business for hospitals, more patients with STIs

Asians and doing awkward things, sef.

mama-gee:

Asians and doing awkward things, sef.

what is awkward about it? it is the same thing as stimulus money in the usa, stimulate ppl to do stuff

Taiwan, germany, japan, australia and a few other countries are doing this to encourage couples to have children because the birthrates are declining sharply there.  more and more couples are deciding not to have any children but rather focus on thier careers.  countries like china had to impliment a one child law to stop the madness of people getting married just to produce 5, 6, 7, 10 kids.  other countries with similar cultural ideas (mass child bearing) are also leaning towards this idea of limiting children.

agathamari:

Taiwan, germany, japan, australia and a few other countries are doing this to encourage couples to have children because the birthrates are declining sharply there.  more and more couples are deciding not to have any children but rather focus on thier careers.  countries like china had to impliment a one child law to stop the madness of people getting married just to produce 5, 6, 7, 10 kids.  other countries with similar cultural ideas (mass child bearing) are also leaning towards this idea of limiting children.

so how many kids are we gonna have