Goverment plans support for assisted reproduction process

The measure, which is expect to benefit around 100,000 couples, will be part of the government’s overall plan to put a check on the alarming decline of the birth rate in Taiwan.

But officials at the BNHI under the Department of Health (DOH), said yesterday that the new measure will have to wait until the financial standing of the NHI program improves because the step could cost more than NT$10 billion, according to Lee Cheng-hua, BNHI deputy chief.

About 15 percent of the married couples are infertile, with women unable conceive within two to three years after marriage.

It often takes two to three treatments on average for women to fall pregnant and the medical bill may run NT$200,000 to NT$400,000, which is not included the NHI system, although the medical treatment costs for babies already born are covered.

Taiwan’s birth rate reached 1.1 babies per mother in 2005, lower than the rate in neighboring countries, showing that Taiwan’s birth rate is falling faster than in other countries, according to the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The figure in Taiwan is far below the world average of 2.7 babies and is also lower than 1.6 babies in China and the advanced countries, 1.3 in Japan and 1.2 in South Korea, although higher than the 1.0 in Hong Kong.

To make the matter worse, Taiwan’s pace of decline is faster than other countries. In 1995, Taiwan’s birth rate stood at 1.8 babies. The 0.7 babies decline in 10 years was faster than the world average of 0.4 babies, South Korea’s 0.2 and China’s 0.3 babies during the same period.

The DGBAS said that 206,000 babies were born in Taiwan in 2005, among whom, 51 percent were first babies, 37 percent were second babies and only 11 percent were third babies.

This shows that most people will have no siblings in the future, the officials said.

The statistics also show that the age for a first birth has risen to 27.7 years, up 1.6 years from 1995. Compared with a decade ago, the number of women aged 25-29 giving birth dropped by 4.4 percentage points, in contrast with the 30-34 and 35-39 groups, which increased by 5 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.

Officials at the DOH’s Bureau of Health Promotion said nearly 30 percent of Taiwan people aged between 20 and 39 would rather stay single all their lives than get married.

For men, 35.9 percent of those aged between 20 and 39, cited “economic causes” as the major reason keeping them from choosing marriage.

For women, or 21.9 percent, cited “marriage will compromise their single life” as the major reason for them to stay away from wedlock.

Other reasons for shunning marriage included celibacy, difficulty in meeting their “Mr. Right” or “Ms Right”, and “too much trouble involving marriage.”

Officials at the bureau found that 58.2 percent of the men and women would like to get married if they had suitable partners. This figure was 3.3 percentage points lower than the figure obtained in a similar poll conducted in 2004.

The percentage of those who did not want to marry rose to 24.5 percent in 2005 from 16 percent in 2004, they said.

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