TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's population shrank again last year with record-low births and marriages, an increased mortality rate, and an exodus of 1 million people moving overseas.

On Monday (Jan. 10), the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) announced that the population in 2021 was 23,375,314, a decrease of 185,000 from 2020, marking the second consecutive year of negative population growth. Meanwhile, births and marriages were both at all-time lows.

Taiwan closed out the year with 14,127 births in December and a total of 153,820 births for 2021, a record low. There were 11,429 fewer births than in 2020.

In terms of the number of deaths, 15,739 people died in December and 183,732 over the course of the year, 10,576 more than in 2020.

In fact, there were fewer births than deaths every month last year. By the end of 2021, deaths exceeded births by 29,912.

Only 13,131 couples got married in December. Over the entire year, only 114,606 people tied the knot, a decrease of 7,096 from 2020 and a record low.

There were 4,470 divorces in December and 47,887 recorded for the year. This was a decrease of 3,793 from 2020.

In addition to a lower birthrate, Taiwan experienced a drop in population growth from immigration. In 2021, 920,703 immigrated to Taiwan, while 1,076,713 emigrated from the country, resulting in a net immigration decline of 156,010.

As for the areas with the highest crude birth rates, Changhua County came in first at 9.81 per 1,000, followed by Taoyuan at 9.78 and Penghu County at 9.41. The area with the lowest crude birth rate was Miaoli County with 4.90 births per 1,000, followed by Pingtung County with 5.27 and Keelung with 5.33.

In terms of the number of households, there were 9,065,800 households last year, an increase of 72,766 since 2020. New Taipei had the most with 1,620,906, followed by Taipei with 1,052,596.