Conducted by the National Development Council, Taiwan’s fertility rate was only 1.125 in 2019, which was the third lowest in the world. A job search website yes 123 in Taiwan also carried out a related investigation. The result showed that 63% of adult labor interviewees do not have children, and among them, there are 48% of people do not have fertility plans (Zhao, 2018). On the basis of government statistics, several reasons cause Taiwan’s low fertility rate, but it can be divided into three main explanations.

    First, the low birthrate among young people is most commonly blamed on economic factor. A specialist once calculated that the cumulative expenditure of raising a child from infant to adult will cost at least 3.5 million dollars in Taiwan. Besides, many parents will send their children to cram schools or various art classes, which is a huge expense as well. Therefore, if you want to spend the least amount of money to raise a child, it has to under an extremely simple situation that your relatives are willing to help postnatal care and bring your child, and the child does not go to cram school and                     study in public schools all the way. Yet, if you hire a nanny to look after your                    child, send your child to attend private educational institutions or study abroad,              the cost should be 10 million dollars to infinity. In the light of the data given by the government, it will probably take 11.9 years to raise a child without eating and drinking if the average salary in Taiwan is estimated at 45,000 dollars per month. Due to the great expenditure for raising a child, it makes Taiwanese not dare to have children easily.

    Another cause of low birth rate is generational changes. The traditional idea of continue the family line has changed nowadays. The concept of the more sons the more blessings, which supported by the older generations, has disappeared with the passage of time. Furthermore, the stereotype of bringing up a child to provide against old age is almost ceased to exist as well. For example, many dinkys believe raising children is not as good as keeping pets. They consider that pets are obedient to them and won’t squall like children; in addition, pets will stay with them when they feel alone. What’s more, the expenditure of raising a pet is lower than raising a child. So they prefer keeping pets to having children. All in all, more and more Taiwanese would rather lead a life of freedom and leisure than be tied down by children.

    The last reason of low fertility is physiological problems. Factors such as environmental hormones and work-related stress have pushed the prevalence of infertility in Taiwan up to nearly 15 percent. The US Centers for Disease Control even considers infertility as a public health issue. It shows that the problem is not merely confined to Taiwan. Yet, Although the assisted reproductive technology has a breakthrough nowadays, women who undergo this surgery still have to endure dozens of doses of ovulation stimulants. However, couples still only have 40 percent chance of becoming pregnant. This whole process also leads to physical discomfort and psychological pressure (Fan, 2020). What’s worse, there is no subsidy for it under the National Health Insurance system, and couples need to spend several hundred thousand dollars for a course of treatment, which is a heavy economic burden for most of them. As a result, it can be seen that the reason for the low fertility rate is that in addition to unmarried and unwilling to pregnant dinky, infertility is also the key factor.

    Owing to the three major causes mentioned above, the fertility rate in Taiwan goes from bad to worse. Under the influence of low birth rate, it will not only impact labor-intensive industries, but endanger the country's overall economic development and social stability. However, as one of the young people of the new generation, the issue of low birth rate is definitely close related to us. In response to the problem of low birth rates, the Taiwanese government has also launched a series of related policies, hoping to prevent Taiwan’s low fertility rate from decreasing. To increase the fertility rate, not only the government’s advocacy, but also our active cooperation is needed.