The declining birthrate has caused Kaohsiung schools to cut classes, affecting education, and has extended its impact to the medical system. The blood donor population has dropped significantly. Coupled with the aging population, the demand for medical blood has increased, and blood banks have had a double impact. The Kaohsiung Blood Donation Center pointed out that the current main blood donor group has turned into the "middle-aged and elderly" group between 40 and 60 years old, accounting for more than 60%, and those under 40 years old account for about 33%. The aging blood donor population and the sequelae of low birthrate are quietly appearing.
The Kaohsiung Blood Donation Center stated that in the past, many of Taiwan's main blood donors came from high school and college groups, but now the young population is shrinking, and the proportion of young people donating blood has gradually shrunk. The proportion of blood donations among 17 to 20 years old has dropped from about 11% in 2022 to 8% last year. The blood donation population of young people has been delayed due to the impact of low birthrate for many years, and only about 50,000 people are left, which represents a shortage of "new blood".
In view of the fact that the number and age of blood donors are facing structural pressure, once the number of young blood donors continues to decline, the risk of ischemia will increase in the future. In order to reduce the impact, the minimum blood donation age has recently been lowered from 17 to 16 years old, hoping to cultivate the habit of blood donation among young people early.
The Blood Donation Center has also put great efforts into promoting the "Blood Donation Coming of Age Ceremony" and cooperating with high schools, vocational schools and university campuses to organize blood donation activities. It is hoped that through the sense of ceremony, students' first blood donation will become more meaningful and valuable, and they will be willing to continue to donate blood to help others in the long term.
Since the declining birthrate has become an unchangeable fact, the donation capacity of young people to blood banks has been greatly reduced. Increasing the regular blood donation rate among middle-aged and middle-aged people has become an important goal and hope of blood donation centers. They are constantly beckoning to the corporate world and public institutions, seeking military, police, public education, and corporate groups to donate blood on a regular basis or through joint activities. Even blood donation centers have to warn and call. If the problem of low birthrate is not improved, in a few years, this impact will have an upward impact on the ability of middle-aged and middle-aged people to donate blood.
The Kaohsiung Blood Donation Center has statistics on the changes in the blood donation population/blood donation rate of all age groups in the area under its jurisdiction in the past five years. With the declining birth rate and the aging of the population structure in the future, the main force of blood donation will gradually spread to the 40-year-old group. The impact on blood donation collection is bound to continue to expand. Therefore, blood collection volume will face great difficulties in growing again. PBM (Patient Blood Management) must be actively promoted to reduce the use of medical blood, which is another goal of future efforts.
The declining birthrate has seriously affected the imbalance between supply and demand in blood banks, evolving into "more people in need of blood" but "fewer people willing and eligible to donate blood." The problem has spread to all levels and has become a national security issue. Local governments should actively respond and act. They cannot wait any longer, or they can only hope that the central government will formulate policies to solve the problem.
