Policy Options after the Demographic Transition: The Case of Taiwan

Now that Taiwan has attained universal contraceptive practice, a net reproduction rate of 1.0, and low mortality rates, the central concerns of population policy are likely to shift from fertility and family planning to other issues. After setting forth a range of plausible population projections, this paper considers policy options related to population growth, the family planning program, projected changes in the age structure, population distribution, and the status of women. The persistence of many aspects of traditional family relationships is viewed as a positive element within overall social change. Linkage of emerging health and welfare institutions to aspects of the Chinese family is proposed as a way to avoid some of the impersonal aspects of the Western system, and to avoid the staggering costs the West now faces in expenditures for the old. Transferability of the Taiwan experience is considered in the final section.