To improve the low birthrate, Taipei City Government plans to increase maternity allowance from NT$20,000 to NT$40,000 for firstborns.
With a loud and clear cry comes another new life, yet the low birth rate remains a difficult issue. Taipei City Government plans to increase maternity allowance from NT$20,000 to NT$40,000 for firstborns, the highest in the nation.
Chen Yong-de, Director, Taipei City Civil Affairs Bureau: “Doubling maternity allowance, reaching NT$40,000 for the firstborn, NT$45,000 for the second child, and NT$50,000 for the third child.”
The Civil Affairs Bureau proposed two plans, awaiting Mayor Chiang Wan-an's decision on whether to implement starting April this year or backtrack to apply to babies born on or after Dec. 25, 2022. Looking at the changes in the total population in Taipei in recent years, sliding downward from 2.66 million in 2018 to dropping below 2.5 million in 2022. Subtracting those who were removed from household registration due to COVID-19, the decreasing birth rate is too a main factor. There were still almost 23,000 newborn babies in 2018, yet only 14,000 or so in 2022, down by 8,000 some. However, will increasing maternity allowance really raise people's willingness to give birth?
Citizen: “No, I don't want to have a child simply because of the increased maternity allowance there is only NT$40,000 at the beginning, yet the cost of raising a child afterward is a huge expenditure.”
Citizen: “No, will not want to have a child because of the increased maternity allowance. (Why not?) Because the difficult part is the process afterward of raising a child, not the allowance at the beginning.”
Taiwan's birth rate is dropping at a rate faster than many other countries. The Awakening Foundation observed that working moms are a very prevalent phenomenon nowadays in society and urged the government to expend a large number of resources in building a friendlier workplace.
Chyn Yu-rung, Secretary General, Awakening Foundation: “First, you must, support, on a systemic basis, that men participate in caretaking. Then, we must increase public childcare centers and raise the proportion within a short period of time. Finally, a reformation for a friendly workplace where the government can promote a flexible leave system.”
In addition, the Awakening Foundation noted that in the past 5 years, given the increase in child and nursery care demands for three years and younger, and limited child-caring policies for 0-2 year-olds, the inability to meet the needs of the people causing working females to have to juggle between work and child-rearing, hence naturally giving rise to more unwillingness to have a child.
洪亮的哭聲，又一個新生命報到，但少子化問題依舊難解。台北市政府就計畫加碼生育補助，第1胎從原先2萬提高到4萬，將會是全國最高。
台北市民政局長陳永德回應：「生育獎勵加倍送，就第1胎4萬，第2胎4萬5，第3胎5萬。」
民政局擬定2套方案，就待市長蔣萬安拍板要從4月實施，或者回溯至去年12月25日當天出生的新生兒也適用。看看近年北市人口總數變化，從2018年的266萬一路下降，2022年更跌破250萬，扣除疫情導致除籍，其實出生數一直減少也是因素。2018年還有將近2萬3千名新生兒，但到了2022年卻只有1萬4千多的嬰兒出生，比2018年減少了8千多人。但提高生育補助真的能提高民眾生育的意願嗎？
有民眾認為不會因為補助加碼想生，「畢竟一開始只有4萬，但是後續的花費還是一筆滿大的開銷。」
也有民眾持相同看法，「重點是後面養育，不是一開始那個津貼。」
台灣的出生率下降幅度比許多國家還要快，婦女新知基金會觀察，職場媽媽是現在社會普遍現象，呼籲政府要投入大量資源建構友善職場。
婦女新知基金會秘書長覃玉蓉認為：「第一個你要必須在制度上，就是支持男性要參與照顧，再來公共托育的比例必須在短期內快速地拉上來，再來就是友善職場的改革，政府能夠推動所謂彈性請假的制度。」
婦女新知基金會還說，以近5年3歲以下送托率大幅成長來看，政府在0到2歲托育政策非常有限，名額僧多粥少，女性在工作育兒間兩頭燒，自然更不願意生。
