Using the current figure of each couple having on average 1.7 children, and the average life expectancy high (currently for men it is 71.09 years, and 76.31 for women), it is estimated that in the year 2,000 the elderly will reach 8.4 % of the population, formally bringing the ROC into the ranks of the "elderly nations."
而以目前每對夫婦平均生育一．七個寶寶、平均壽命又大幅提高（目前男性平均壽命約七一．○九歲，女性則達七六．三一歲），預估到了西元二千年，台灣的老年人口將達到百分之八．四，正式躋身「老年國家」之林。