ROC Taiwan 2002

ROC Yearbook 2002

Social Welfare
About 18.63 percent of Taiwan's population consists of children under 12 years of age, and their well-being is clearly defined in the ROC's Children's Welfare Law first promulgated in 1973.
  1. Welfare Sources
  2. Child Welfare
    1. Child Protection
    2. Childcare
  3. Juvenile Services
    1. Campaign Against Drug Abuse
    2. Youth Counseling and Guidance
    3. Rewriting the Law
    4. Teenage Prostitution
  4. Women
    1. Women's Education
    2. Women's Service Networks
      1. Female Employment Assistance
    3. Divorce
    4. Rewriting the Law
  5. The Elderly
    1. Elderly Pensions
    2. Elderly Daycare
    3. Independent Housing
  6. The Disabled
    1. Vocational Training
    2. Education of the Disabled
  7. Indigenous Peoples
  8. Low-Income Households
  9. Volunteer Services
Charts, tables, and boxes:

The vast majority of ROC citizens in the Taiwan area now enjoy a greater qual- ity of life than ever before. Equal access to education, jobs, housing, medical care, travel, and the political system are the result of profound social and political changes accompanying the astounding economic success of recent years as Taiwan was transformed over the past five decades from traditional agriculture into a modern industrial economy. However, this restructuring of society has also generated new social ills.

Extended families were once the fundamental source of welfare services in Chinese society. However, the traditional concept of family-based support has changed in the post-agricultural economy in Taiwan. Currently, 50 percent of the population lives in the cities of Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, or Kaohsiung. It is now common for both parents to work full-time outside the home, and children are often cared for by the school system.

The transformation from extended farming families to nuclear urban families has resulted in growing numbers of children, women, handicapped, and senior citizens who require assistance from non-family sources. Coinciding with the need for outside assistance are two new phenomena: increased demand for government services and the proliferation of private organizations that provide welfare services. This chapter highlights services provided by the government and private sector to children, juveniles, women, the elderly, the handicapped, and the poor.


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