IT’S THE ECONOMY:The KMT’s presidential candidate said most young couples put off parenthood for financial reasons, as they are worried over expensive preschooling

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 16, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday proposed expanding kindergarten subsidies to cover children aged between three and five years old, as part of his efforts to assuage the nation’s dwindling birth rate.

“Taiwan’s declining birth rate is primarily attributed to the rising financial burden on young couples, which is why we must address the problem by increasing educational subsidies,” Chu told a forum held at the KMT headquarters yesterday morning to unveil his educational platform.

In a country that has a 3:7 ratio of public to private kindergartens, most young couples put off parenthood for economic reasons, Chu said.

Chu said that if elected, he would increase the education budget from 22.5 percent of the nation’s average net annual revenue to 23.5 percent, to fund his policy of lowering the minimum age limit for the government’s preschool subsidies from five to three.     [FULL  STORY]