| 摘要: | 隨著社會變遷，經濟、家庭結構的轉變，少子女化問題日趨嚴重，造成高齡化社會、人口勞動力不足、經濟體系面臨崩潰，社會動盪不安使得國家面臨嚴峻的挑戰。少子女化情形在亞洲地區相當嚴重，臺灣與韓國的總生育率為全世界倒數第一和第二名。兩國於 2020 年時皆出現出生人口數低於死亡人口數的「死亡交叉」現象。少子女化問題再加上由於醫療的進步，老年人口比例增加，韓國平均壽命來到 82.3 歲；臺灣則是 80.9 歲。面對高齡化社會的來臨，接下來國家可能出現勞動力短缺，再者老年人口的增加，需要社會福利和醫療保健量能的同步提升，進而增加社會福利體系的負擔，同時家庭方面也需要承擔更多照顧老年家庭成員的負擔，這可能對家庭的生活品質和經濟狀況帶來影響。在社會及家庭無法承擔巨大壓力之下，經濟體系終將面臨崩潰及瓦解。
臺灣在 1950 到 1970 年代，推行一系列計畫生育政策，也就是「家庭計畫」。是臺灣政府為減緩戰後嬰兒潮而膨脹的人口數所提出的節育政策。實施政策後人口突然銳減的情形，反倒加速臺灣進入高齡化社會。鄰近的韓國同樣也在 1962 年經濟發展活躍時，為抑制成長的人口數，政府實施了節育政策。另外在女性意識抬頭之後，女性社經地位提升，男性也因龐大的社會壓力，男性女性晚婚的情形越來越多，加劇少子女化的情況。
面對少子女化，政府提供了不少鼓勵生育的政策，甚至提出方案吸引他國移民藉此增加人口數量；社會方面，政府機構提供相關生育諮詢、不孕諮詢，或是針對幼兒教育及照顧提出應對政策，比如幼兒園提供相關延長托育的服務，分擔雙薪家庭部分的養育壓力。
透過分析少子女化政策及幼兒教育政策，發現臺灣政府及韓國政府目前因應少子女化問題主要分成給予家庭津貼補助、幼兒園數量的擴充以及幼教品質提升等政策方案，試圖減緩持續下降的出生率。其中為符合家庭對於公立幼教機構的偏好，擴充公立幼教機構這部分，由於兩國目前幼教體制的不同，臺灣幼兒園及韓國幼稚園國公立占比較高，韓國托兒所開辦的情況主要以私立托兒所占大宗。但根據韓國保育振興院2023年4月和9月韓國全國托兒所數的統計數據，國公立托兒所的園所數小幅增加，其他私立托兒所則是出現下降趨勢。對於少子女化問題兩國皆採取積極的態度，不過近年受到疫情的雙重打擊之下，總生育率仍持續下降當中。
With the influence of social structure and family structure, the problem of lower birth rate is becoming more and more serious, resulting in an aging society, insufficient labor force, economic system facing collapse, and social unrest, and the country is gradually heading towards the crisis of disappearance. This situation is very serious in Asia, with Taiwan and Korea having the world's lowest and second lowest total fertility rates. The problem of lower birth rate, coupled with advances in medical care, has led to an increase in the number of elderly people, with the average life expectancy in Korea reaching 82.3 years, and in Taiwan, 80.9years. Against this backdrop, both countries will experience a "death crossover" phenomenon where the number of births will be lower than the number of deaths by 2020. It is predicted that in the future, if the country's labor force will be insufficient for production, and it will need long-term caregivers for the elderly, which will lead to the eventual collapse of the economy if the society is unable to cope with the burden.
In 1950s to 1970s, Taiwan implemented a series of planned parenthood policies, also known as "family planning". These birth control policies were introduced in order to slow down the expansion of the population due to the post-war baby boom. The sudden drop in population after the implementation of these policies in turn accelerated Taiwan's entry into an aging society. Similarly, in neighboring Korea, the government implemented a birth control policy in 1962 in order to curb the growing population when the economy was booming. In addition, with the rise of women's awareness, women's social and economic status has increased, and due to the enormous social pressure on men, more and more men and women get married late, and the problem of lower birth rate has also arisen one after another.
In the face of low birth rate, the government has provided a number of policies to encourage childbearing and has even proposed programs to attract immigrants from other countries to Taiwan to increase the population size. On the social side, government agencies have provided relevant fertility counseling, infertility counseling, or have proposed policies for early childhood education and care, such as after-school care provided by kindergartens or relevant extended care services, to share some of the pressure of parenting among dual-income families.
By analyzing the policy of low birth rate and early childhood education, it is found that the Taiwanese and Korean governments have mainly responded to the problem of low birth rate by giving subsidies to families, expanding the number of kindergartens, and upgrading the quality of kindergarten's education. In order to meet the preference of families for public early childhood education institutions, public kindergarten institutions have been expanded. Due to the differences in the current kindergarten education systems of the two countries, Taiwan kindergartens and Korean kindergartens account for a higher proportion of public kindergartens, while private nurseries account for a large proportion of nurseries in Korea. However, according to the Korea Childcare Promotion Institute (KCPI) April 2023 and September 2023 statistics on the number of nurseries in Korea, the number of public nurseries has increased slightly, while the number of other private nurseries has been on a downward trend. Both countries have taken a positive attitude towards the issue of low birth rate. However, due to the double blow of the epidemic in recent years, the total fertility rate and birth rate have continued to decline. |
