Скачать или смотреть Chishang Township offering Taiwan’s biggest baby bonus

The Chishang Township office is paying parents NT$60,000 to have a baby. This year, local administrators boosted their cash bonus from NT$5,000 to NT$60,000 in the hope of sparking a fertility boom. So far, the measure is doing its job, producing even more newborns than expected. These pint-sized musicians are hard at play. Behind this lively classroom scene, a birthrate crisis looms large. To boost the local population, Chishang Township bumped up its baby bonus from NT$5,000 to NT$60,000 this year. If factoring in the county subsidy of NT$10,000, families in this Taitung township get NT$70,000 per baby.Fan Fang-chingMother in ChishangThe cost of raising a child is quite high, so the county government has subsidies and the township office has subsidies. With those, the burden is alleviated. When other people hear about the subsidies we get here at Chishang, they say, “Wow, we envy you because we don’t get that much.”It’s the biggest baby bonus in Taiwan, and it’s having an effect. In 2018, 40 babies were born in Chishang Township. That’s gone up to 60 this year. The township office had only budgeted for 50 babies this year, and it’s now scrambling to make up the shortfall.Chang Jao-chengChishang Township headThe demand is a bit overwhelming. But we’re seeing pretty good growth. We hope to use our limited resources to provide the most beneficial social welfare policy.Although the number of births is going up, Chishang still loses nearly 300 working-age adults each year. If it’s unable to stem the outflow, Chishang will be down to a population of 4,000 in 80 years.