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The Part II of the Supplement to Volume 1, Journal of Population and Social Policy: Population Study features papers presented at two international mini-workshops on low fertility and social policies in Asian NIES (Newly Industrializing Economies) including Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. They were held at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR) on November 20, 2002 and March 17, 2003. In the first one entitled, "International Mini-Workshop on Low Fertility and Policy Responses in Asia: Cases of Korea and Singapore," Kyung-Sup CHANG (Seoul National University) and Mui-Teng YAP (Institute of Policy Studies) presented a paper on their own societies. In the second one entitled, "Low Fertility in Asia: Cases of Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong," Ki-Soo EUN (Academy of Korean Studies), Ming-Cheng CHANG (Taichung Healthcare and Management University) and Edward Jow-Ching TU (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) presented a paper on their own societies. The first mini-workshop was supported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare through the travel grant administered by the Imperial Gift Foundation Boshi-Aiiku Kai in Tokyo. Its preview was held at the School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya City on November 15 thanks to the local arrangement by Prof. Shoichi ITO. The second mini-workshop was supported by the Asia Population and Development Foundation in Tokyo. It was incorporated in an international workshop on Comparative Perspectives on Issues of Low Fertility and Policy Responses in Asia-Pacific: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand organized by Prof. On-Kwok LAI at the School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda City on March 19, 2003. The major aims of the two mini-workshops were to understand social, economic, and cultural background of low fertility in Asian NIES, to know various family policies undertaken by them and to broaden our perspectives of social policies related to low fertility in culturally similar societies. They were held in conjunction with our Research Project on Comparative Study of Low Fertility and Policy Responses in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. (Principal Investigator: Hiroshi KOJIMA) funded by a FY2002-2004 Scientific Grant from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The Part II is meaningful in relation to the Part I particularly because Asian NIES has recently experienced very low fertility like Japan's, but detailed information on them is still insufficient for deriving new insights or policy implications despite their cultural similarities with Japan. The total fertility rate in 2001 was 1.33 in Japan, 1.30 in Korea, 1.40 in Taiwan, 1.41 in Singapore and 0.93 in Hong Kong. The 2002 estimates are even lower at 1.32 in Japan, 1.17 in Korea and 1.37 in Singapore. Some of their Governments have launched a new set of family policies in response to their rapid fertility decline as the readers will realize by reading the following papers. |
