【人口】20240106(六)臺灣人口結構研究與歐盟經驗

作者:納蘭雪敏

臺灣(中華民國政府1949年10月1日中華人民共和國成立後,國民政府遷台後之實體政權簡稱),人口在2023年11月底,官方統計數字為23,415,008人,2019年臺灣人口達到高峰的23,603,121後開始出現負成長。

2020年後,自然增加人口數出現負成長,並因為疫情因素,社會增加數也出現負成長,以勞動人口15歲到65歲最高峰在2013年的74.2%,隨後一路下降至70.32%,而65歲以上人口17.56%,但2004年以後,排除掉疫情間的2020到2022年間,臺灣自2004年到2019年間社會增加數均是正值,社會增加率是移民,從1978年到2022年底,中國大陸及港澳地區最多,其次為越南、印尼及菲律賓,共計57萬7,900人,1989年開放移工後有71萬多人進入臺灣從事基層工作。

父母其一新住民的有45萬人,每年有2萬多外籍配偶移入,所以其實與多數輿論所說的不同,臺灣的人口在未來持續快速降低的機率不高,而是臺灣本土出身的漢人將不斷減少,取而代之是以外籍配偶以中國大陸、越南、印尼、菲律賓等國婚姻而出生的新住民為主導。

另有中華民國與美國籍的人數有80萬人,但也有未取得該地區國民身分,但已經到海外長期居留取得永久居留或其他居留身分的臺灣人,2021年內政部曾以電信信令人口統計,簡單說這就是以基地台訊號來計算實際的人流。

2022年臺灣年齡中位數是43.8歲,比美國、法國、英國都更老,但比日本、義大利、德國、韓國年輕,中國大陸則是38.5歲首度超越美國,歐洲國家均超過40歲居多,而非洲國家幾乎都小於20歲,以年齡中位數來看國家發展,以拉丁美洲為例智利年齡中位數在35.2也是屬於拉美地區前段班,古巴則是41.2歲最老,加拿大也達到40.4歲,歐洲以葡萄牙達到45.4歲,也難怪葡萄牙近年不斷推出優惠的移民政策希望吸引外來人口,以此來看,臺灣早晚也會面臨到大幅開放移民政策的局面。

要降低年齡中位數有幾個情境,其一是該國的老年人口不多,就會導致年齡中位數偏低,非洲國家就是如此,而出生率又高,就會降低該國的年齡中位數,或者必須吸引比中位數更低的年齡,比如臺灣就應該吸引43.8歲以下的移民就能大幅拉低年齡中位數,不過年齡中位數高通常社會發展更成熟,可以看出歐洲普遍都高於40歲以上,僅有英國39.8歲、瑞 典39.6歲、冰島36.2歲,愛爾蘭38歲,俄羅斯39歲,盧森堡39歲等比較小型的國家,此外聽過的主要發達國家幾乎都超過40歲。

歐盟國家中葡萄的生育率是全歐盟最低,因為歐洲經濟危機,所以相關補助減少,多數葡萄牙年輕人工作不穩定或者失業,但他們也同樣面臨沒有住房,2017年時在美國論壇Quroa上曾有葡萄牙的當地人說道:

I speak for myself, and I really want to have kids in the future, but first I’ll need to build a strong economic framework for me and my family that allows me provide a good childhood for my children.

我代表我自己,我真的很想在未來有孩子,但首先我需要為我和我的家庭建立一個強大的經濟框架,讓我能夠為我的孩子們提供一個美好的童年。

In a country where the average gross household income was €16 500/year in 2015  where the PPS is only 77% of the average of the EU , but where prices are 84% of the EU average  where social welfare is a joke, where the childcare network is mostly private (but heavily state subsidized), I think it is pretty obvious why Portugal has a really low fertility rate.

在一個2015年家庭平均總收入為16500歐元/年的國家,購買力標準(PPS)只有歐盟平均水平的77%,但物價卻達到歐盟平均的84%,在這樣一個社會福利成了笑話、兒童保育網絡大多是私營(但受到大量國家補助)的國家,葡萄牙生育率非常低的原因似乎非常明顯。

在歐洲以兒童保育網路這個詞是因為有比臺灣更多的兒童照顧服務,但多數都不是公立,自然費用就比較高,但葡萄牙也跟臺灣類似人口透過烏克蘭人、摩爾多瓦人、羅馬尼亞人、俄羅斯人、保加利亞人、巴西人、委內瑞拉人和PALOP 國家(非洲葡語國家)來移入填補自然出生的問題,所以葡萄牙將會變得跟臺灣一樣,本地出身的葡萄牙人將越來越少。

世界銀行有提供葡萄牙人口出生率近年都在1.4

不過臺灣是世界冠軍僅有1.09,倒數第二是韓國1.11,新加坡1.17,香港1.23,澳門1.23,接著是義大利1.24,義大利年齡中位數比葡萄牙更誇張,來到47.3歲。

以經濟發展的時期來看,工業化之前的農業社會,因為兒童的勞動力可以替農作物帶來生產力,所以大家會拼命生孩子來增加經濟產能,接著進入城市以後,農業進化成工業,兒童不再是經濟資產,此時生育率將顯著下降,接著進入已開發經濟體後,女性通常此時因為社會的歧視以及無法平權之下,生育率保持低靡,比如臺灣、日本都是對女性生育歧視嚴重的地方,在政府沒有支援,以及經濟不佳的狀況下,社會無法支援女性進行育兒,男性也無法足夠的支應經濟就導致生育率低靡,最後需要靠社會福利來達成補助與育兒後出生率才開始止跌回升,這需要滿足政府財政健康,且經濟發展良好的雙向正向循環。

世界銀行提供的數據,義大利從1985年後出生率一律下降到1995年曾一度反轉。

但2023年甚至創下歷史紀錄的低

In 2022 as a whole, births fell 1.7% to 393,000, a 14th consecutive drop and the lowest number since the country's unification in 1861.
2022年全年,出生人口下降1.7%至39.3萬人,連續14年下降,是1861年國家統一以來的最低數字。

A shrinking and ageing population leads to falling productivity and higher welfare costs in a country that already has the highest state pension bill in the 38-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
人口萎縮和老化導致生產力下降和福利成本上升,而該國的國家退休金費用在經濟合作暨發展組織 (OECD) 38 個國家中已經是最高的。

但根據CNN 的報導

Babies born in Italy to unregistered migrants and to some same-sex and heterosexual Italian couples who used surrogacy abroad are not automatically part of the official record, according to Italy’s national birth registrar.
根據義大利國家出生登記員的說法,未登記移民以及一些在國外使用代孕的義大利同性和異性夫婦在義大利出生的嬰兒不會自動成為官方記錄的一部分。

The projections by the government show that the peak in terms of pension spending will be reached in 2044,” Testa said, to meet the needs of the large baby boomer generation.
特斯塔表示:「政府的預測顯示,退休金支出將於 2044 年達到峰值,」以滿足嬰兒潮世代的需求。

The birth rate in Italy has been declining steadily since the economic crisis in 2008, for reasons demographers agree is rooted in economic insecurity. The average monthly income across Italy is €2,475 a month, according to ISTAT. But the average rental property is €12.12 ($13.16) per square meter, meaning a 100 square meter family apartment costs €1,212 ($1,316) – roughly half the monthly budget.
自2008年經濟危機以來,義大利的出生率一直在穩步下降,人口統計學家一致認為其根源在於經濟不安全。根據 ISTAT 的數據,義大利各地的平均月收入為 2,475 歐元。但平均出租房產為每平方公尺 12.12 歐元(13.16 美元),這意味著一套 100 平方公尺的家庭公寓成本為 1,212 歐元(1,316 美元)——大約是每月預算的一半。

Italy also used to be a country of savers, with the average Italian saving 20% of annual income, according to ISTAT figures, in part because many families live in multi-generational homes or homes bought by their parents. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Italy locked down, the annual savings rate dropped to just over 11% by July 2020, and dropped further, to just over 5% of annual income, as of January 2023, according to the World Bank and ISTAT.
義大利也曾經是一個儲蓄國家,根據 ISTAT 的數據,義大利人平均將年收入的 20% 儲蓄起來,部分原因是許多家庭居住在多代人居住的房屋或父母購買的房屋中。但根據世界銀行的數據,當COVID-19 大流行來襲且義大利實施封鎖時,到2020 年7 月,年儲蓄率降至略高於11%,並進一步下降,截至2023 年1 月,降至年收入的5% 略多和 ISTAT。

In order to spur a baby boom, the Italian government has been toying with incentives, starting with the government of Mario Draghi, which in May 2021 introduced monthly payments of up to €175 ($190) per child, a policy which has been continued by the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Draghi’s plan included pumping $25.4 million into the economy to boost childcare and hire more women and young people.
為了刺激嬰兒潮,義大利政府一直在嘗試各種激勵措施,首先是馬裡奧·德拉吉(Mario Draghi) 政府,該政府於2021 年5 月推出了每個孩子每月高達175 歐元(190 美元)的補貼,這項政策一直延續到了2020 年。喬治亞·梅洛尼總理領導的政府。德拉吉的計劃包括向經濟注入 2540 萬美元,以促進兒童保育並僱用更多女性和年輕人。

But other countries, including Germany and France, do far more for potential parents, although that doesn’t always translate to higher birth rates. In Germany, where new parents can take up to three years of partially paid or unpaid maternity leave, the birth rate is just slightly higher than Italy, at an average of 1.4 babies per woman for the first half of 2022.
但包括德國和法國在內的其他國家為潛在父母做了更多的事情,儘管這並不總是意味著更高的出生率。在德國,新手父母可以享有長達三年的部分帶薪或無薪產假,但出生率僅略高於義大利,2022 年上半年平均每名婦女生育 1.4 個孩子。

The situation in Italy is unique for two reasons. The Catholic Church, which is a predominant political force, and the right-wing government under Meloni have both lamented the low birth rate, but have put up roadblocks to ways to remedy the situation.
義大利的情況很獨特,原因有二。作為主要政治力量的天主教會和梅洛尼領導下的右翼政府都對低出生率表示遺憾,但也為糾正這種情況設置了障礙。

Meloni’s government has promoted the traditional family, criticized assisted reproduction like surrogacy for both heterosexual and gay couples, and rejected the idea of offering birth right to immigrants, even to those born of permanent, tax-paying residents.
梅洛尼政府提倡傳統家庭,批評異性戀和同性戀夫婦的代孕等輔助生殖,並拒絕為移民提供出生權,甚至是那些由永久納稅居民出生的人。

備註:
tax-paying residents指的是那些居住在義大利並有納稅責任的居民。包括所有在義大利有稅務登記,並根據收入或其他可徵稅項目向義大利政府繳納稅款的個人或法人。這個概念不僅適用於義大利公民,也包括在義大利居住的外國人,只要他們在義大利有稅務義務。納稅居民的定義可能根據居住時間、收入來源和其他因素不同。

I want a country where it’s not scandalous to say we are still born from a man and a woman and where it’s not a taboo to say that maternity is not for sale or that we don’t rent uteruses,” Meloni said last week at a conference to address the dwindling birth rate.
「我想要一個這樣的國家:說我們仍然是由一個男人和一個女人生出來的,這並不是一種恥辱,而且說母性不可出售或我們不租用子宮也不是禁忌,」梅洛尼上週在解決出生率下降問題的會議

Francesco Lollobrigida, Meloni’s brother-in-law and the country’s minister of agriculture, raised eyebrows last month when he suggested that Italians “were at risk of ethnic replacement” if migration wasn’t put in check. “That’s not the way forward,” he said.
梅洛尼的姐夫、義大利農業部長弗朗西斯科·洛洛布里吉達(Francesco Lollobrigida)上個月表示,如果不控制移民,義大利人“將面臨種族更替的風險”,這引起了人們的關注。 「這不是前進的方向,」他說。

“The government thinks €10,000 ($10,800) is enough to have a child. But the incentives are temporary. A child lasts forever,” Giagheddu Saitta says. She says the idea of having more than one child, if she has one at all, feels impossible.
「政府認為 10,000 歐元(10,800 美元)足以養育一個孩子。但激勵措施是暫時的。孩子是永恆的,」Giagheddu Saitta 說。她說,如果她有一個孩子的話,想要擁有多個孩子的想法感覺是不可能的。

Less than one quarter of women born in 1980, who are now 43, have children, according to the national birth registrar. Some want children, but can’t afford them, and others are choosing to remain childless.
根據國家出生登記員的數據,1980 年出生的女性(現年 43 歲)中只有不到四分之一有孩子。有些人想要孩子,但負擔不起,而有些人則選擇不生孩子。

Italian mothers are the oldest in Europe and, according to a number of professionals CNN spoke to, it is because they feel they need to reach a certain level of financial and a work stability before they’re comfortable starting a family, which is usually in their 30s.
義大利母親是歐洲最年長的母親,據 CNN 採訪的多位專業人士稱,這是因為她們覺得自己需要達到一定的經濟水平和工作穩定才能安心組建家庭,而組建家庭通常是在他們30多歲。


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所以其實從義大利的想法來看跟臺灣差不多,都是想要更穩定的經濟與工作後才會尋求生育家庭,另外宗教因素對待同性婚姻以及不接受代理孕母等制度也都會限制生育率,甚至義大利的生育補助還更高都無法有效刺激生育率。

更有意思的是英國衛報(theguardian)寫的更直白,西方世界的媒體真的素質就在這,敢寫真話,臺灣的媒體沉淪到不忍直視,這些交雜的問題有宗教因素,有退休金、有經濟問題,甚至連雇主逃稅付現金給移民的問題都有。

Given national pension provisions are like a Ponzi scheme, requiring new contributors to finance those who take money out, this imbalance will become an acute economic problem, requiring either huge tax hikes or drastic pension cuts.
鑑於國民退休金規定就像龐氏騙局,要求新的繳款者為那些取出錢的人提供資金,這種不平衡將成為一個嚴重的經濟問題,需要大幅增稅或大幅削減退休金。

Demographers and sociologists have long been aware of the problem of Italy’s birthrate but it has suddenly become a hot political topic. Prime minister Giorgia Meloni sees in it an issue that speaks to the gut values of the far right because it appears to confirm a conspiracy theory that Meloni, and her party, repeatedly refer to: “ethnic substitution” or “the great replacement”. In 2017 she said there had been “a planned and desired invasion” of immigrants, and a year later repeated the antisemitic trope that George Soros “finances ethnic substitution”. The absurd idea that a rich Jew deliberately brings in cheap labour from the developing world to reduce costs, increase profits and undermine Christian values is widely held among politicians in Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party. In April, Francesco Lollobrigida, who is the partner of Meloni’s sister and now minister for agriculture, linked the demographic crisis to this conspiracy theory, saying the issue of births needed to be addressed because “we cannot give in to the idea of ethnic substitution”. Even the mainstream media stokes this paranoia: Panorama, a current affairs and lifestyle magazine, recently put on its cover various black and brown faces under the title “Italy without Italians”.

義大利的人口學家和社會學家長期以來一直關注該國的出生率問題,但這個問題最近突然成為一個熱門的政治話題。總理喬治亞·梅洛尼認為這是一個觸及極右派核心價值的問題,因為它似乎證實了梅洛尼及其黨派反覆提到的陰謀論:"種族替代"或"大替代"。2017年她曾說過有一次"計劃中且渴望的移民入侵",一年後她又重複了一個反猶太人的老生常談,即喬治·索羅斯"資助種族替代"。這個荒謬的想法——一位富有的猶太人故意從發展中世界引入廉價勞動力以降低成本、增加利潤並破壞基督教價值觀——在梅洛尼的義大利兄弟黨中的政治人物中廣為流傳。2022年4月,梅洛尼的妹夫、現任農業部長的弗朗切斯科·洛洛布里吉達將人口危機與這一陰謀論聯繫起來,他說出生問題需要解決,因為"我們不能屈服於種族替代的想法"。即使是主流媒體也在助長這種偏執狂:《全景》雜誌最近在封面上刊登了各種黑人和棕色面孔,標題為"沒有義大利人的義大利"。


The births issue is also a topic that allows Meloni’s government to reassert a rigidly traditional concept of family. Meloni frequently opens political speeches by saying “I am a mother” and uses Mussolini’s old slogan of “Dio, patria, famiglia” (“God, fatherland, family”). For the Italian right, “family” and “life” have become talismanic words. The country’s “Family Day” was instituted in 2007 by a Catholic umbrella organisation to oppose then-prime minister Romano Prodi’s equality legislation for cohabiting and same-sex couples; it returned in 2015 and 2016 to oppose similar legislation.
出生問題也是梅洛尼政府重申嚴格的傳統家庭概念的議題。梅洛尼經常在政治演講開始時說“我是母親”,並使用墨索里尼的舊口號“Dio,patria,famiglia”(“上帝、祖國、家庭”)。對義大利右派來說,「家庭」和「生命」已經成為護身符。該國的「家庭日」是由一個天主教傘組織於 2007 年設立的,旨在反對時任總理羅馬諾·普羅迪針對同居和同性伴侶的平等立法;它於 2015 年和 2016 年再次回歸,反對類似的立法。

Fears that Meloni’s government is attempting to return women to stay-at-home, child-rearing roles has convinced many feminists to take action. In November 2022, Agnese Vitali, a politically neutral professor of demography at the University of Trento, was due to take part in a conference entitled The Demographic Emergency in Italy, chaired by a journalist from the religious magazine Famiglia Cristiana. “Suddenly,” Vitali says, “there were all these banners announcing, ‘I decide about my body.’ There were megaphones and chants. It was impossible to go ahead.” One flyer distributed by the activists spoke of “the reactionary gender roles patriarchal society imposes on us: to be wives and baby-making mothers for the fatherland”.
人們擔心梅洛尼政府試圖讓女性重返家庭、撫養孩子的角色,這促使許多女權主義者採取了行動。 2022 年11 月,政治中立的特倫託大學人口學教授艾格尼絲·維塔利(Agnese Vitali) 計劃參加由宗教雜誌《克里斯蒂亞娜家庭》(Famiglia Cristiana) 記者主持的題為“意大利人口緊急狀況”的會議。 「突然之間,」維塔利說,「所有這些橫幅都在宣布,『我決定我的身體』。擴音器和口號聲響起。不可能繼續前進。”活動人士分發的一張傳單談到「父權社會強加給我們的反動性別角色:為祖國做妻子和生孩子的母親」。

As she took the stage in Turin, activists burst in, blocking her speech for hours by singing, chanting and holding up banners. The feminist group Non Una di Meno (“Not one less”, a reference to the refusal to accept the often fatal violence against women) was present at both protests. “For this far-right government,” says Eleonora, one of the group’s activists, “this is completely ideological.” She maintains that the battle for births is a front for rolling back hard-won rights: “In city councils run by Brothers of Italy, the paternity and maternity rights of same-sex couples have been withdrawn – they no longer have the automatic right to go and see their child in hospital, they can’t pick them up from school.” In June, a magistrate in Padua sent a court a list of 33 lesbian couples registered as parents since 2017, demanding judges erase the non-birth mother’s name from the register. The case will be ruled on in November.
當她在都靈登上舞台時,活動人士突然闖入,透過唱歌、口號和舉起橫幅,封鎖了她的演講幾個小時。女權主義團體 Non Una di Meno(“一個也不少”,指的是拒絕接受針對婦女的致命暴力行為)參加了兩次抗議活動。 “對於這個極右翼政府來說,”該組織的活動人士之一埃萊奧諾拉說,“這完全是意識形態的。”她堅持認為,生育之戰是回滾來之不易的權利的前線:「在義大利兄弟會管理的市議會中,同性伴侶的父權和母權已被撤銷——他們不再自動擁有生育權,他們不能去醫院看他們的孩子,他們不能接他們放學。” 6 月,帕多瓦的一名地方法官向法院提交了 2017 年以來登記為父母的 33 對女同性戀夫婦的名單,要求法官從登記冊中刪除非親生母親的名字。此案將於 11 月做出裁決。

Many statistics bear out her point that birthrates are a barometer of wellbeing. In the midst of the Covid pandemic, which hit Italy hard, there were 14.7% fewer births in January 2021 than in the same month in 2020. One hospital, in Trieste, experienced a 20% decrease in births after the lockdowns. “Italy is a nervous and pessimistic country,” says one sixtysomething woman I meet. “It’s no longer cheerful, and the young are so angry that they don’t have what their parents had.”
許多統計數據證實了她的觀點,即出生率是幸福感的晴雨表。在新冠疫情對義大利造成重創期間,2021 年 1 月的出生人數比 2020 年同月減少了 14.7%。的里雅斯特的一家醫院在封鎖後出生人數減少了 20%。 「義大利是一個緊張而悲觀的國家,」我遇到的一位六十多歲的女性說道。 “現在不再快樂了,年輕人非常生氣,因為他們沒有父母所擁有的東西。”

But if pessimism appears an effective contraceptive, so is extravagant materialism. Many of the older people I talk to are scornful of how young parents spoil their cherished only child. “It’s part of the provincial mindset of Italians,” says Roberta, a retired teacher with one child and one grandchild. “Your child has to have the right shoes, all the right material things. So of course parents can’t afford to have more than one.”
但如果悲觀主義似乎是一種有效的避孕藥,那麼奢侈的物質主義也是。與我交談的許多老年人都對年輕父母如何溺愛他們心愛的獨生子表示蔑視。 「這是義大利人鄉土心態的一部分,」羅伯塔說,她是一位退休教師,有一個孩子和一個孫子。 「你的孩子必須擁有合適的鞋子和所有合適的物質。所以,父母當然不能養一個以上的孩子。”

Quite apart from cashflow problems, many young women just don’t want the hassle. Alessia, 32, works in a car rental firm and lives with her boyfriend. She earns €1,300 (£1,100) after tax and pays €300 towards rent. “I don’t want to have children,” she says. “It doesn’t interest me. But even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to. I struggle to get to the end of the month with just a dog.”
除了現金流問題之外,許多年輕女性就是不想遇到麻煩。 Alessia,32 歲,在一家汽車租賃公司工作,與男友住在一起。她稅後收入為 1,300 歐元(1,100 英鎊),並支付 300 歐元的租金。 “我不想生孩子,”她說。 「我對此不感興趣。但即使我這樣做了,我也做不到。我很難帶著一隻狗撐到月底。”

Of six close female friends in their early 30s, only one has a child. “Relationships are more unstable than they were in the old days,” she says. “And we’re not like our mothers – we want a partner by our side, not a husband you have to cook for every night. There are so many other enticing options instead of having children.
六位三十歲出頭的親密女性朋友中,只有一位有孩子。 「關係比以前更加不穩定,」她說。 「我們不像我們的母親——我們想要一個伴侶在我們身邊,而不是一個你必須每晚做飯的丈夫。除了生孩子之外,還有很多其他誘人的選擇。


There’s a clear consensus among demographers about what needs to be done to reverse Italy’s plummeting birthrate. And it’s the opposite of a reversion to the traditional family. “For decades now,” says Francesco Billari, rector and professor of demography at Milan’s Bocconi University, “there has been a positive correlation between female labour market participation and fertility. In countries and regions where there is greater gender equality in the labour market, fertility is higher.”
對於需要採取哪些措施來扭轉義大利出生率直線下降的趨勢,人口統計學家之間存在著明確的共識。這與回歸傳統家庭相反。米蘭博科尼大學校長兼人口學教授 Francesco Billari 表示:幾十年來,女性勞動市場參與度與生育率之間一直存在正相關關係。在勞動市場性別平等程度較高的國家和地區,生育率較高

All the statistical evidence suggests that birthrates rise where there are progressive social policies: in Sweden, with its ample maternity and paternity leave and social welfare provision, the fertility rate is 1.84. Germany, which in the mid-90s had a similar fertility rate (1.3) to Italy’s current figure, now has a rate of about 1.6. “In addition to the strengthening of allowances and tax rebates,” Billari says, “Germany has pushed access to nurseries and extended school hours and parental leave. In short, it has significantly improved the work-family balance, especially for women previously forced to choose between having children and working.”
所有的統計證據都表明,只要有進步的社會政策,出生率就會上升:在瑞典,由於有充足的產假和陪產假以及社會福利規定,生育率為1.84。德國在 90 年代中期的生育率 (1.3) 與義大利目前的數字相似,現在的生育率約為 1.6。 「除了加強津貼和退稅之外,」比拉里說,"德國還推動了托兒所的普及,延長了上課時間和育嬰假。簡而言之,它顯著改善了工作與家庭的平衡,特別是對於以前被迫在生孩子和工作之間做出選擇的女性來說。”

The hypothesis that progressive policies encourage births is confirmed by statistical differences within Italy itself. In the autonomous province of Bolzano, near the border with Austria, €200 is given as childcare benefit for children under three, there’s help for first-time homebuyers and efficient educational and health services. Here the fertility rate is 1.65, a figure closer to Denmark (1.72) than most of Italy. Vitali points out that Bolzano has a nursery provision of 67.5%.
義大利國內的統計差異證實了進步政策鼓勵生育的假設。在靠近奧地利邊境的博爾扎諾自治省,為三歲以下兒童提供 200 歐元的兒童保育福利,為首次購房者提供幫助,並提供高效的教育和醫療服務。這裡的生育率為 1.65,這個數字比義大利大部分地區更接近丹麥 (1.72)。維塔利指出,博爾扎諾的托兒所供應率為 67.5%。

These figures convince many experts that the problem is not what it first appears. Linda Laura Sabbadini, a director at Istat and a former chair of the G20’s Women 20 group, says, “I’m convinced the real emergency isn’t the birthrate: it’s about women and young people. We have one of the lowest percentages of employed women – 51.3% compared with more than 70% in Germany and the UK, and 68% in France.” Even for those in work, the challenges of raising children are steep: Italy has very few free nursery places.
這些數字讓許多專家相信,問題並不像最初出現的那樣。 Istat 董事、G20 女性 20 小組前主席琳達·勞拉·薩巴迪尼 (Linda Laura Sabbadini) 表示:「我確信真正的緊急情況不是出生率:而是關於女性和年輕人。我們是女性就業比例最低的國家之一——51.3%,而德國和英國的這一比例超過 70%,法國則為 68%。”即使對於那些在工作的人來說,撫養孩子的挑戰也很嚴峻:義大利的免費托兒所很少

Research repeatedly shows Italian women express the desire to have the same number of children as northern Europeans (the average is just over two), so demographers conclude that there are clearly obstacles to fulfilling their wishes. The most obvious is that Italians stay in the parental home well into adulthood: males on average don’t leave until 31 and women at 29 (the figure for Sweden, for both sexes, is 19). As the former UK minister David Willetts once quipped, “Living at home with your parents is a very powerful contraception.” Italy holds the European record for the highest age of first-time mothers (31.4) – and if you start late, you’re unlikely to have many children.
研究多次表明,義大利女性表達了與北歐人生育相同數量孩子的願望(平均只有兩個多一點),因此人口統計學家得出結論,實現她們的願望顯然存在障礙。最明顯的是,義大利人成年後一直留在父母家:男性平均到 31 歲才離開父母家,女性平均到 29 歲才離開父母家(瑞典的男女比例均為 19 歲)。正如英國前大臣戴維·威利茨(David Willetts)曾經打趣的那樣:“和父母住在一起是一種非常有效的避孕方法。”義大利保持著歐洲首次當媽媽年齡最高的記錄(31.4)——如果你開始晚了,你就不太可能生很多孩子。

Most young Italians don’t leave home because they simply can’t afford to. The median net monthly wage in Italy is €1,501 and starting salaries are even lower. Rents continue to rise, in the past year by 12% across the country. According to Istat, 5.6 million people in Italy suffer from “absolute poverty”, while Eurostat calculates that more than 20% of Italians are at risk of poverty.
大多數義大利年輕人不會離開家,因為他們根本負擔不起。義大利的月淨工資中位數為 1,501 歐元,起薪較低。租金持續上漲,去年全國上漲了12%。根據Istat統計,義大利有560萬人遭受“絕對貧困”,而歐盟統計局計算出超過20%的義大利人面臨貧困風險。

備註:

絕對貧窮"的定義與所在地區有關。根據義大利經濟學家提托·博耶里(Tito Boeri)的說法,如果居住在北部城市,絕對貧窮的標準是每月稅後收入低於817.56歐元;如果居住在北部城市以外的地區,則是每月稅後收入低於733歐元;而在南部城市以外的地區則是每月稅後收入低於554歐元​

Those financial headwinds are even stronger for those in the “fertility range”. Italy has the highest proportion of Neets (not in employment, education or training) aged 15-29 in the EU: 23.1%, as against 13.1% (in Portugal and Spain, countries superficially comparable with Italy, the figures are 9.5% and 14.1%). The lack of job opportunities and meritocracy has led to a brain drain, too: the number of Italians living abroad has doubled to almost 6 million since 2006.
對於那些處於「生育範圍」的人來說,這些財務阻力甚至更大。義大利15-29歲的尼特人(非就業、教育或訓練)比例在歐盟中最高:23.1%,而葡萄牙和西班牙的比例為13.1%(表面上與義大利相當的國家葡萄牙和西班牙,這一數字分別為9.5%和14.1%) %)。缺乏就業機會和精英管理也導致了人才流失:自 2006 年以來,居住在國外的義大利人數翻了一番,達到近 600 萬人。

One of the great paradoxes of the situation is that, according to the sociologist Chiara Saraceno, birthrates are low precisely because the family is so predominant in Italy. “The family is still a strong institution,” she says, “from which economic solidarity and care redistribution are expected. Social policies take this solidarity for granted, sometimes even impose it. This overburdens families and reduces the autonomy of younger generations.” The country, she says, is caught in a spiral where families are forced to pick up the slack in social welfare provision, looking after elderly people or a first child who has no nursery to attend, and thus have less desire to create, and care for, multiple children.
根據社會學家基亞拉·薩拉切諾 (Chiara Saraceno) 的說法,這種情況的最大悖論之一是,出生率低正是因為家庭在義大利占主導地位。 「家庭仍然是一個強大的機構,」她說,"人們期望家庭能夠實現經濟團結和照顧重新分配。社會政策將這種團結視為理所當然,有時甚至強加於人。這給家庭帶來了過重的負擔,並減少了年輕一代的自主權。”她說,這個國家陷入了螺旋式發展,家庭被迫填補社會福利供應的空缺,照顧老年人或第一個孩子,因為他們沒有托兒所可以上學,因此創造和照顧的意願較低。對於多個孩子。


There is a solution to the problem, but it’s politically fraught. “Births can’t resolve this imbalance,” Sabbadini says. “It’s demographically impossible. Let’s say we do arrive at two children per woman: those children will become workers in 20, 25 years. And in the meantime? We need immigrants.” She believes the government is ignoring the most obvious and easy remedy. “They just come out with demagogic phrases that don’t reflect reality. Only with more migrants of working age will the population grow immediately and guarantee the pension payments of a rapidly ageing population. Angela Merkel had the same problem, understood it and welcomed a million Syrians.”
這個問題有一個解決方案,但在政治上充滿爭議。 「出生無法解決這種不平衡,」薩巴迪尼說。 「從人口角度來看,這是不可能的。假設我們確實實現了每個女性生兩個孩子的目標:這些孩子將在 20 到 25 年內成為工人。同時呢?我們需要移民。”她認為政府忽視了最明顯、最簡單的補救措施。 "他們只是提出一些不反映現實的煽動性言論。只有更多的勞動年齡人口流動,人口才會迅速增長,才能保證快速老化人口的退休金支付。安格拉·默克爾也有同樣的問題,她理解這個問題,並歡迎一百萬敘利亞人。”

“It almost makes me not want to have another child,” says Silvana, a window-shopping mother whose one child is asleep in her pram. Describing herself as “leftwing”, she says anyone with more than two children is seen now as ultra-Catholic or far-right. Immigrants, too, are sceptical of being used simply to plug a gap. Solomon, an elegant shop assistant who is originally from Ghana, guffaws lightheartedly when asked if there might be a warmer welcome for immigrants because of the population issue: “You know, if they allow us here just to pay old people’s pensions, it’s hardly a genuine welcome.” Many of his friends, he says, are paid by their Italian employers in cash, so greater immigration would hardly resolve the crisis in the public finances anyway.
「這幾乎讓我不想再要一個孩子了,」西爾瓦娜說,她是一位逛街的母親,她的一個孩子在嬰兒車裡睡著了。她將自己描述為“左翼”,並表示任何擁有兩個以上孩子的人現在都被視為極端天主教徒或極右翼分子。移民也對被用來填補缺口表示懷疑。所羅門是一位來自加納的優雅店員,當被問及是否會因為人口問題而更熱烈地歡迎移民時,他輕笑道:「你知道,如果他們允許我們來這裡只是為了支付老人的養老金,那根本就不是一個好主意。”真誠的歡迎。”他說,他的許多朋友都是由義大利雇主以現金支付薪水的,因此增加移民無論如何也很難解決公共財政危機。







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自然寫道…
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