In the courtyard of the Taiwan Chung Hsing private high school, desks, and chairs are piled high like a monument or an unlit bonfire. Mounds of debris cover the play area.

The central Taipei private school closed in 2019 after failing to reverse financial problems caused by low enrolment and was sold to developers. The school was an early victim of a problem now sweeping across Taiwan’s educational institutions: decades of declining births mean there are no longer enough students to fill classrooms.

Like much of east Asia, Taiwan is struggling to achieve the “replacement rate” needed to maintain a stable population. That rate is 2.1 babies per woman, but Taiwan hasn’t hit that number since the mid-80s. In 2023, the rate was 0.865.

Demographers and governments fear the looming economic crises caused by a growing elderly population without enough working taxpayers to support them. In Taiwan, the impact of shrinking generations has already started affecting military recruitment and now is flowing on to enrolments at schools and universities.

More on

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/14/taiwan-birthrate-decline-schools-close-population