Taiwan's birth rate hit a record low in 2009, making it amongst the lowest in the world, the government said Sunday.

The crude birth rate, based on the number of childbirths per 1,000 people each year, stood at 0.829 percent last year, compared with 0.864 in 2008, the Ministry of the Interior said.

A total of 191,310 babies were born in Taiwan last year, down 3.74 percent from the previous year.

The ministry said Taiwan had one of the lowest crude birth rates in the world, along with Germany.

The ministry last month started to adopt more incentives, such as child care subsidies and housing subsidies for families with three or more children, in order to inject new blood into the rapidly ageing society.

But experts have said they doubt the new measures will work given the overall expense of raising children.

Health authorities have said the declining birth rate is because many women are choosing to marry at a later age or to stay single.