Caring for Taiwan's Growing Number of Senior Citizens Living Alone

Getting support to senior citizens who live alone can be tough, especially since the government is uncertain as to how many there are around Taiwan.

Transcript

00:00On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ms. Yang leads her walking club for senior citizens in a series of exercises.

00:06Many here are among the tens of thousands of older Taiwanese adults who are known to live alone.

00:11As the country's population ages, the number of these seniors living by themselves grows.

00:16And it's become a social problem, as some may die in their home without anyone noticing for some time.

00:21Ms. Yang keeps tabs on her club members to make sure this doesn't happen to them.

00:31But not all have someone like Ms. Yang looking out for them.

00:35And the scope of the problem is hard to gauge.

00:37Different government agencies have different estimates of how many older adults are out there by themselves.

00:42The health ministry says there are about 390,000.

00:46But the interior ministry says around 670,000.

00:50Getting a handle on the local situation is something even some local community leaders have trouble with.

01:01The health ministry says its approach gives a more accurate picture,

01:05based on what it calls real-world data rather than official household registries.

01:10Still, it encourages local officials to make their own assessments.

01:31Taiwan has close to 5,000 centers prepared to help with senior citizens' welfare.

01:35But making sure they're set up where they're needed,

01:37and that those who need help actually get it, can still be a challenge.

01:41Eason Pan and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.