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Population Ageing and Societal Inequalities: The Case of Taiwan

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Ageing Asia and the Pacific in Changing Times

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Abstract

Taiwan is one of the countries with the highest proportion of an ageing population across the globe. It has become an aged society with 14.56% of its population over 65 years old in 2019 and will be a super-aged society as soon as 2025 (National Development Council 2020). The severity of population ageing is a major threat to the socio-economic sustainability and political stability of the island. The ageing population may also lead to increasing societal inequity. This chapter looks into three types of societal inequities related to population ageing: (1) pension system inequality, (2) intergenerational inequality, and (3) gender inequality. Possible implications of the rapid population ageing on these societal inequities and potential ways forward in relation to two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – SDG5 gender equality and SDG10 reduce inequality within countries, are also discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Based on exchange rate of 28.2 NTD: 1 USD.

  2. 2.

    Income replacement rate varies for different types of public sector workers.

  3. 3.

    Based on exchange rate of 28.2 NTD:1 USD.

  4. 4.

    Calculated based on the 2021 pension contribution fee formula = monthly base rate of 18,282 NTD * contribution rate 9.5%* 0.65 (Bureau of Labor insurance of Ministry of Labor, 2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International College, Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Min-Wen Sophie Chang

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  1. Min-Wen Sophie Chang
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Senior Lecturer, UNE Business School, University of New England (UNE), Armidale, NSW, Australia

    Subas Dhakal

  2. School of Management & Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Alan Nankervis

  3. Professor of Human Resource Management, Centre for Organisational Change & Agility, Torrens University Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    John Burgess

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Chang, MW.S. (2022). Population Ageing and Societal Inequalities: The Case of Taiwan. In: Dhakal, S., Nankervis, A., Burgess, J. (eds) Ageing Asia and the Pacific in Changing Times. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6663-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6663-6_12

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