It may not be as serious as Japan’s, but Taiwan’s demographic problem is worsening. Simply put, its 23m citizens are not having enough babies.

Taiwan’s birth rate of 8.9 per 1,000 population puts is among the lowest in the world, just ahead of its neighbours Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan. Add a penchant among wealthy Taiwanese parents for sending their children to school in the US, Canada or Australia, plus a growing diaspora of Taiwanese workers and businessmen moving across the Strait, and it is little wonder that Taiwan’s brain drain is fast becoming an issue.

A survey released by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party on May 8 found that 87.3 per cent of women aged 20 to 49 did not want to have children, mostly for economic reasons, with 54.9 per cent of mothers saying they were not happy.