Taiwan has the lowest birthrate in the world with less than 200,000 newborns last year. In order to give that number a push, many city and county governments are offering birth subsidies, providing up to 10,000 NT dollars for every child. Although this is good news, a recent survey revealed that what parents need the most is actually an affordable and a quality day care facility. Here on CTS, let's find out what's really holding people back from having more babies.

Ms. Kuo was a pharmacist before she gave birth to her son four years ago.

Because she couldn't find a suitable nanny, she quit her job and became a full-time mom.

Although the government has many financial incentives to increase the birth rate, she doesn't want to have a second child.

According to a research, 58% of the surveyed hope to find a public daycare center that is compatible with the work schedule of parents and 55% of them believe the issue of subsidies is the second important thing.

41% hope to see the increase of public daycare center while 27% want the government to set up public daycare center with temporary childcare service.

When evaluated under four categories, which include childcare, birth healthcare, financial support and child-raising environment, Yilan County, Taichung City and Changhua County rank top among the cities and counties.

The Greater Taipei area has average performance while the counties and cities that are least friendly in raising children are Kaohsiung City, Keelung City, Jiayi County and Yunlin County.

Now double income families have become the norm in the country and the

demand of child care service is high.

But the government has yet to come up with a comprehensive set of policies to create a friendly environment for parents and this should be the topmost priority for the government.

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