Taiwan is Aging Faster than Norway

According to the latest estimate by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), Taiwan will have more senior citizens as a percentage of the population than Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom by 2025.

CEPD shows that Taiwan is aging faster than European and North American countries, with its senior citizens – those aged 65 or more – expected to account for a greater proportion of the population than developed countries by 2025.  By 2060, a 56-year-old will be seen as a “young person” in Taiwan, according to the CEPD’s estimate.

A wave of new births this year – the year of dragon on the Chinese calendar -could see 230,000 new babies born in Taiwan.

By 2060, according to a CEPD forecast, the median age will be 57, meaning that anyone under 57 could be counted as a “young person.”

In terms of the speed of the aging population, Taiwan will have 16.1 percent of its population aged 65 or over by 2020, about the same as the 16.2 percent for the United States.

To cope with this aging trend, Deputy Premier Jiang Yi-huah has asked the Department of Health to speed up its long-term care program, aiming to take care within five years of 45 percent of the people who have lost the ability to look after themselves.


 

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