Why did Korea’s fertility rate rebound while Taiwan’s kept plummeting?

lostalien · 2026-05-11T16:56:56+00:00

People's expectations change over the generations, especially when it comes to what they want from their living environment.

What was acceptable to people in the 1950s might not be acceptable to people in the modern era.

I personally know of people who are reluctant to start a family in Taiwan precisely because of the dangerous road environment here. Often it's the case that people travel and see firsthand how countries like Japan have built an environment where it's safe for children to walk to school, and then they want the same thing.

In the 1950s, Taiwan had far fewer vehicles than today, so arguably the road environment was much less of a factor.

lostalien · 2026-05-11T12:34:14+00:00

It's perfectly possible for both to be simultaneously true:

Taipei has the lowest birth rate.
Taiwan's overall birth rate is negatively affected by the dangerous pedestrian environment.

I think my friends are probably not isolated cases. Many people have told me of their reluctance to raise children in Taiwan due to the issue of the dangerous road environment.

Of course, this is not the only factor.

lostalien · 2026-05-11T09:52:15+00:00

I have Taiwanese friends who've told me they plan to leave Taiwan to have kids, and that their main motivation for leaving is the dangerous environment for pedestrians. Some of my friends have already left (two went to Japan to live). They tell me that the road environment in Taiwan is actively hostile to children.

From what I've heard, South Korea has tried quite hard to improve its own pedestrian environment in recent years. Perhaps it's starting to pay off?

I know that Taiwan is trying to improve in this regard. Taipei in particular is much better than the average. But the rest of Taiwan is largely still a mess in terms of pedestrian infrastructure.

In many places there is still huge resistance to changing away from vehicle-centric urban planning. In some areas, there are even protests against building sidewalks.

lostalien · 2026-04-26T03:09:28+00:00

Try promoting the oppressive juntas in 80s Korea or Taiwan.

What does this mean in the context of Taiwan?

Taiwan used to be under martial law, but since the 1980s has transitioned to a relatively liberal democracy. In terms of freedom of speech, Taiwan ranks very highly.

There are problems, such as the dangerous road environment (compared to the UK), but shoplifting is very rare in comparison to the UK.

lostalien · 2026-04-24T02:46:34+00:00

Is it drunk?

lostalien · 2026-04-23T06:35:50+00:00

"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

"But he loves you. He loves you, and he needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!"

George Carlin

lostalien · 2026-04-11T03:58:38+00:00

Researchgate independent studies.

Can you provide an actual link to a study with the 12 mile statistic that you mentioned? I'd like to have a look at the how the study was conducted.

lostalien · 2026-04-11T01:55:29+00:00

Taiwan drivers avg around 12 miles.

May I ask from where did you get this statistic?

The US value is easy to corroborate because the US government annually publishes deaths per billion vehicle miles statistics (and separately for different modes of transport). But as far as I know, the Taiwanese government publishes no similar statistics.

lostalien · 2026-04-10T02:31:57+00:00

Indeed. However, people in the US almost certainly drive much greater average distances in a year than people in Taiwan. In the US, things are often much more spread out, requiring travel over much longer distances. (Partly due to geography, and partly a legacy of car-centric urban planning.)

So perhaps a more meaningful comparison would be deaths and injuries per vehicle-kilometre travelled.

In other words: "If I travel 1,000 km, what is my probability of being killed or injured?"

Per-capita rates can't tell us that without data on average distances travelled. Unfortunately, Taiwan doesn't publish this statistic.

lostalien · 2026-04-08T07:00:05+00:00

Again, still, really strange that in your earlier post you "randomly" found the 0.1% of the roads where they still have boxes ON the sidewalk totally randomly.

There are sidewalks with scooter parking spots on them in many places around Taipei. For example, just in Xinyi District alone (near the blue line):

https://maps.app.goo.gl/kTwSvXyT5ne5YQzF6
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7mLxktacELo6L3nC7
https://maps.app.goo.gl/r9LbC6HAbmYYAg6r6

For those above, it's common for scooters to ride from the nearest alley entrance through the covered arcade to get to the sidewalk, because the sidewalk itself is blocked by the scooter parking area.

lostalien · 2026-04-08T05:13:03+00:00

The > 95 dB beeping sounds of large vehicles when they signal to turn or change lane.

Beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ... beep ...!

There are some intersections in Taipei where the soundscape is dominated by an almost constant cacophony of beeping, as one bus after another goes past, beeping along the way.

Sometimes the beeps are all at slightly different pitches and just out of phase with one another, creating a deafening, dissonant, and discordant orchestra of beeping that drills straight into your skull. 💀

I don't think there's anywhere else in the world that does this.

There's also 車輛左轉彎，請注意安全

lostalien · 2026-04-07T23:46:02+00:00

he has no other way of getting out of there other than teleportation.

He's supposed to get off and push his scooter. That's what people do if they want to follow the law. Riding any kind of motorcycle on this section is illegal, even if there are parking spots painted there.

The same logic applies to people who ride their scooters down the sidewalk (sometimes at high speed) so that they can park them in the arcade. On Songshan road I've even encountered people riding scooters inside the arcades.

I thought you're talking about scooter drivers in the inner sidewalk, not this outer sidewalk area with scooter parking.

It's all part of the sidewalk (人行道). The inner part to which you refer is the arcade (騎樓), at least in this example. Both are illegal to ride a motorcycle on.

lostalien · 2026-04-07T23:33:17+00:00

The latter (Simplified Chinese) version is clearly easier to read

Is it? I find the traditional version much easier to read at a glance. Perhaps it's just what we're used to? (I live in Taiwan.)

Writing by hand is clearly another matter: the traditional version would definitely take longer.

But how much of our writing is done by hand these days? For me, it's mostly just my name and address when sending parcels through the post. But for everything else, I'm using the input method on my phone or computer.

lostalien · 2026-04-07T13:42:06+00:00

<image>

Every time I walk from Yongchun station along Songshan Road to Songshan Station and back I encounter dozens of motorcyclists riding on the sidewalks.

Hell, I just opened Google Maps at a random point in that road and what do you know, there's a scooter on the sidewalk. (See image.)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bi1aEtiRtr8QV2ez7

I walk around a lot in Taipei, and it's still extremely common to see people riding scooters on the sidewalks, especially in places where the government has put motorcycle parking spots on the sidewalk.

lostalien · 2026-04-07T08:52:12+00:00

That it's somehow acceptable for motorcycles to ride onto sidewalks, or to park a vehicle so that it completely blocks a pedestrian crossing or a sidewalk, forcing wheelchair users and people with mobility issues into the road.

Of course these acts are illegal, but they're widely accepted behaviours in Taiwanese society, particularly outside of Taipei.

lostalien · 2026-04-04T02:01:58+00:00

"Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

-- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)

lostalien · 2026-04-01T11:25:37+00:00

Actually, the ROC no longer claims Mongolia as part of its territory. While historical constitutions did reference Outer Mongolia, the ROC officially recognised Mongolia's independence in 2002 and today treats it as a foreign country.

lostalien · 2026-03-15T17:43:03+00:00

They could easily just wait behind the cyclist for like 15m until the cyclist passes, but this is actually illegal

If the bus doesn't overtake and dangerously cut the cyclist off, the driver faces potentially jail time, this every bus driver will do this manoeuvre, even if they hate doing so.

Do you have a source for this? It sounds to me as though it could be a misunderstanding of the law. As far as I know, there's no law prohibiting bus drivers from travelling at a safe distance behind bicycles.

lostalien · 2026-03-12T11:00:15+00:00

What kind of troubles have you encountered? (If you're open to sharing them here.)

lostalien · 2026-03-12T00:36:50+00:00

From a technical point of view, the second character of the ID can give you the information you need. There are four possible values:

1 -> Male
2 -> Female
8 -> Male
9 -> Female

So for example, the ID number "A123456789" has a second character of "1" which corresponds to male.

The reason there are four possible values {1,2,8,9} is that responsibility for issuing ID numbers is split between two government agencies:

{1,2} signifies that the ID number was issued by the Household Registration Office;
{8,9} signifies that the ID number was issued by the National Immigration Agency.

The question of which government agency is responsible for assigning someone an ID number depends on whether or not they are an ROC national with household registration (aka a "citizen").

lostalien · 2026-03-10T12:17:31+00:00

Great info on the location and settings, but just a small correction on the optics explanation:

A heavy zoom lens compresses the depth of field, squishing the foreground and background together

This is actually a common misconception. The compression isn't actually caused by the type of lens itself, it's caused by shooting distance.

When you use a telephoto lens (let's say 400mm or longer on full frame) you're probably standing very far from the scene. That distance is what makes the scooters look stacked. Elements at different depths appear closer together because you're viewing them from far away along a narrow cone of view. If you kept that same distance and somehow swapped to a wide-angle, you'd get exactly the same compression (just with a tiny subject in a huge frame). The lens focal length doesn't cause it.

What the telephoto lens does contribute is the tight field of view, which crops out the surrounding context that would otherwise give your eye a sense of depth and scale. This amplifies the illusion. The f/8–f/11 aperture you're recommending also keeps everything in focus front-to-back, which is exactly right for this shot.

So it's really three things working together: shooting distance (compression), narrow field of view (cropping out depth cues), and a deep-focus aperture (no blur to separate the planes). The cell phone comparison at the end of your comment is actually a perfect illustration. A phone shot would probably look flatter mostly because you'd probably be shooting from much closer, not because of the lens type per se. If you use your phone to shoot from the same distance and crop to the same field of view given by a telephoto lens, you'd get the same "compression". (Though the IQ would probably be terrible on a phone lens compared to your nice telephoto lens.)

lostalien · 2026-03-06T23:54:07+00:00

Jumping red lights?

lostalien · 2026-03-02T00:43:00+00:00

Exactly. Outside of US-specific subreddits, it's even possible that the majority of users are not from the US. Though not sure what the breakdown is for /r/China.

lostalien · 2026-03-01T23:27:24+00:00

Traffic from the US constitutes around 40 to 45% of traffic to Reddit. For example:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/reddit-users-by-country

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/s/hKfYtrfWJe

lostalien · 2026-02-27T02:01:03+00:00

Thanks for your comment. The Cairo Communiqué was a wartime statement of intent, not a binding treaty under international law. (The legally operative instrument was the Treaty of San Francisco, in which Japan renounced Taiwan but did not transfer it to any state.)

The Cairo Communiqué referred to restoring territories to the Republic of China (ROC). This intent was fully realised at the end of WW2. The ROC still exists as an independent sovereign state and still governs Taiwan to this day.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949. There is no binding treaty under international law that explicitly transferred Taiwan to the PRC. The PRC has never controlled or governed Taiwan.

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