In 2013, all 22 cities and counties in Taiwan signed the Dublin Declaration to commit to becoming age-friendly. According to this release from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan became the only country in the world that achieved full coverage.
Using the WHO criteria for evaluating Age-Friendly cities, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) interviewed 2,144 senior citizens over 60 this year (2014). They were asked a total of 29 questions (I would be really interested to see those questions!) and asked to give satisfaction points, where 4 points, the highest, stand for very satisfied, and 1 point, the lowest, for ‘very unsatisfied’.
| Respect and social inclusion | 2.96 |
| Community support and health services | 2.94 |
| Communication and information | 2.91 |
| Transportation | 2.90 |
| Civic participation and employment | 2.85 |
| Outdoor spaces and buildings | 2.84 |
| Social participation | 2.83 |
The HPA has also collected the achievements in the eight major aspects of promoting the Age-Friendly city by various cities and counties, compiling them into a book to share with the public.
We will soon launch an AF iPad app incorporating the complete WHO checklist to enable Governments to audit their towns and cities.
