NOW ON SALE at Plum Rain Press.com - The English Translation of: A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa by Dr. Chen Yao-chang 陳耀昌 !!
Feb. 20, 2025

S5-E1 – Taiwan’s Shrinking Population

S5-E1 – Taiwan’s Shrinking Population

Did you know that former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文 is the youngest of eleven siblings? Her personal story is a dramatic example of how quickly we’ve fallen from high fertility in the 1950s, when the rate was over six children per woman, to the current birthrate of about one. That’s half of what’s needed to maintain a population. Eryk and John discuss Taiwan’s dramatic demographic changes and explore possible solutions. This is an important subject, an existential threat for Taiwan, which is why we chose it to kick off Season Five of Formosa Files.

The player is loading ...
The History of Taiwan - Formosa Files

Cover left image via Reddit, right image via Big News Network

 

In the 1970s, the Taiwan govt used the slogan 一個不嫌少,兩個恰恰好 “One [child] is never too little, two [children] is just enough” 

In the 1990s, that slogan had changed to 兩個恰恰好,三個不嫌多 “Two [children] are just enough, three [children] are never too plenty” 

 

 

 

Did you know that former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文 is the youngest of eleven siblings?

Her personal story is a dramatic example of how quickly we’ve fallen from high fertility in the 1950s, when the rate was over six children per woman, to the current birthrate of about one. That’s half of what’s needed to maintain a population. Eryk and John discuss Taiwan’s dramatic demographic changes and explore possible solutions. This is an important subject, an existential threat for Taiwan, which is why we chose it to kick off Season Five of Formosa Files. 

 

 

 

Do us a favor and rate/review the show! It really helps. Do it on Apple Podcasts or here on our website.

Write us with questions or ideas at formosafiles@gmail.com 

AND THE BIGGEST REQUEST: tell others about this free, not-for-profit resource about Taiwan. 

New to The History of Taiwan - Formosa Files?

Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.