Page 30 - 2024 Taiwan Health and Welfare Report

2024 Taiwan Health and Welfare Report

Chapter 5 International Comparisons Section 3 Dependency Ratio
In terms of dependency ratio among the OECD
Section 1 Life Expectancy member countries, Japan ranked top at 68 in 2023,
In Taiwan, life expectancy at birth in 2022 was followed by Israel at 66. Our dependency ratio was
79.8 years. If ranked among the Organization for at 43.
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) In 2023, the old-age dependency ratio (population
member states, Taiwan would have been 28th. aged 65 and above / population aged 15-64 x 100)
Taiwan's life expectancy was lower than the OECD in Taiwan was 26. If ranked among OECD member
median of 81.4 years. Male life expectancy at birth in states, Taiwan would have been 27th. Taiwan's old-
OECD member states was highest in Switzerland at age dependency ratio was higher than that in Israel,
81.8 years; in Taiwan, male life expectancy was 76.6 New Zealand, Ireland, Iceland, Mexico, Colombia,
years. Female life expectancy at birth was highest in Türkiye, Chile, Costa Rica, and Luxembourg. There
Japan at 87.1 years; in Taiwan, female life expectancy was 1 elderly person per 4 young and mid-year
was 83.3 years (Table 2-3).
population in Taiwan. The aging index (population aged

Section 2 Rate of Natural Increase 65 and above / population aged 0-14 x 100) of Taiwan
The rate of natural increase in Taiwan in 2023 was 154. If ranked among OECD member states,
was -2.99‰, ranking 27th among OECD member Taiwan would have been 7th. In comparison to OECD
states and lower than the OECD median of 0‰. Due member states, the ratio of elderly people in Taiwan
to the recent tendency toward late marriage and was not high, whereas its ratio of population aged
delayed childbearing, Taiwan's total fertility rate (the 0-14 years old was slightly lower. As a result, the aging
average number of live births for a woman over her index of Taiwan was higher than most OECD member
lifetime) has been decreasing and reached 0.90 in states (Table 2-5).
2023, compared to other OECD members, Taiwan's
fertility rate is only higher than South Korea. This rate
in all OECD member states, excluding Israel was
lower than the replacement level of 2.1. For the same
period, Taiwan's crude birth rate was 5.8‰ and the
death rate was 8.8‰, ranking 37th and 23rd among
OECD member states, respectively and lower than the
respective OECD medians of 9‰ and 10‰. Generally,
demographic structures in OECD member states were
trending toward low birth rates (Table 2-4).

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