My maternal grandmother had nine children. When I was young, she lived in a traditional Chinese courtyard-style home. Back then my oldest and second oldest uncles on my mother’s side were already married with children, but they still lived at home. When we’d come back on New Year’s, we’d always first see Grandma and then separately pay visits to each of my five uncles. At meals, there were more than 30 of us all told, so we needed several tables.

Later the old home would be torn down, and the large household split apart. It’s a story that encapsulates historical changes in demography and family structure for Taiwan as a whole.

These rapid changes began in the 1950s, when the average Taiwanese woman was giving birth to six children. The fertility rate fell rapidly to 2.2 in 1983, and the era of low fertility rates had begun. By 2011 the rate had fallen even further, to 1.07. Whereas my mother had five children, each of my siblings has only two.

Demographic changes lead directly to changes in family structures and living arrangements. Smaller households result in smaller homes, and vice versa.

The phenomenon isn’t unique to Taiwan but rather is a symptom of industrialization, which spurs mobility and reduces the number of people who end up in their parents’ professions. Meanwhile, greater affluence and education change residential preferences, with modern people favoring the independence and personal privacy afforded by smaller households.

But these underlying factors have also played out in Taiwan in unique ways. In the industrialized nations of Europe and America, for instance, 26% of elderly people live on their own. For Japan, the figure is only 13%, but that’s still higher than the 9.1% in Taiwan. And in terms of the number of elderly people living with only their spouse, the figure is 43% in Europe and 49% in the United States, but only 18.7% in Taiwan.

In Taiwan a much larger proportion of the elderly (67%) live with at least one child. Apart from traditional social mores, one reason the figure is so high is that 56% of today’s elderly people have at least three children.

In light of increasing longevity and a household ownership rate of 80%, academics estimate that the proportion of the elderly in Taiwan living with their children will steadily decline.

It’s worth noting that after elderly couples live together for a number of years and one spouse dies, the other will end up living alone. Growing old in familiar surroundings is viewed as ideal by many Taiwanese seniors. Figuring out how to provide them with appropriate and timely care will demand careful consideration.

Survey data shows that households of lone married couples, one-parent families, and lone individuals have been growing fastest. Whether or not these households are “single” by choice, everyone, over the long course of life, will at some point face a part of the journey that they must travel alone.

This month’s issue of Taiwan Panorama also reports on the CNEX Documentary Film Festival, which offers a look at 10 years of visual images of Chinese people. Showing concern about social issues and giving voice to the disadvantaged, these documentaries are able to make up for some of the deficiencies of contemporary commercial film and television. Looking for subject matter relating to Chinese communities around the world and aiming to draw international attention to these films, the festival reflects the ambitions of Ben Tsiang, the CNEX Foundation’s CEO.

This month we report too on the Diabolo Dance Theatre and on the Taipei Railway Workshop. Social concerns and culture are well and truly front and center.