Hello and welcome back to another episode of News Bites!

I'm Paz Bueno.

And I'm Brody Halverson.

Today's stories…

Taiwan's gender income gap, and the European Union uses more renewable energy.

And in today's Tasty Tidbit…a world record for counting.

Let's find out!

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男女平均所得差距1.6倍 創11年來新高

Gender Income Gap Reaches 1.6 Times, Highest in 11 Years

Have you ever wondered if men and women earn the same amount of money?

Well, in Taiwan, there is quite a big difference between what men and women earn.

This difference is called the "gender income gap (性別收入差距)."

Recently, the Ministry of Finance (財政部) shared some interesting numbers showing how much money men and women make in Taiwan.

In 2022, men made an average of (平均賺到) NT$752,530 each, while women made NT$470,569 each.

This means men made 1.6 times more money than women, which is the biggest gap in 11 years!

Let's look at different kinds of income…

In wages (工資), men earned NT$819,331 on average, while women earned NT$571,775.

The gap here is 1.43 times.

In profit income (利潤收入), men earned NT$72,036, and women earned NT$46,100, with a gap of 1.56 times.

And in dividend income (股利收入), men earned NT$214,178, while women earned NT$131,063.

The gap is 1.63 times.

When it comes to retirement income (退休收入), women actually do better.

Men made NT$525,159 on average, but women made NT$607,793.

This is the only category where women earn more than men.

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風能和太陽能在歐洲超越化石燃料

Wind and Sun Power Beat Fossil Fuels in Europe

Renewable energy (再生能源) is energy that comes from sources that can be used again and again, like the sun, wind, and water.

Unlike fossil fuels (化石燃料), which are limited and create pollution, renewable energy is clean and sustainable (永續的).

A report by the climate group (氣候組織) Ember says that in the first half of this year (今年上半年), wind and solar energy produced 30% of the electricity in the European Union (歐盟).

This is more than the electricity made from burning coal, oil, and gas.

這比燃燒煤、石油和天然氣產生的電力還要多。

In the EU, burning coal, oil, and gas dropped by 17% in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same time last year.

2024年前六個月，歐盟國家燃燒煤、石油和天然氣比去年同時期減少了17%。

This is good news because it means less pollution.

Even though electricity demand went up a bit (電力需求上升), this change still happened.

If EU countries keep building more wind turbines and solar panels (風力發電機和太陽能板), they can stop using fossil fuels.

Solar power is growing fast, but the wind industry faces challenges like high costs and political opposition (高成本和政治反對).

The report says 13 EU countries made more electricity from wind and solar than from fossil fuels in the first half of the year.

For the first time, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and the Netherlands joined this group.

德國、比利時、匈牙利和荷蘭首次加入這個行列。

Scientists believes the EU can meet its renewable energy goals with the right policies (政策).

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So, in today's News Bites…

The Ministry of Finance recently shared numbers showing how much money men and women make in Taiwan in 2022.

Men made 1.6 times more money than women, which is the biggest gap in 11 years!

The only category where women earn more than men is retirement income.

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And,

A report by the climate group Ember says that wind and solar energy produced 30% of the electricity in the European Union in the first half of this year.

If EU countries keep building more wind turbines and solar panels, they can stop using fossil fuels.

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趣味小點

Tasty Tidbit

In our first story today, we mentioned a lot of numbers.

It can take a long time to say big numbers out loud…

So have you ever wondered how long it would take to count from 1 to 1,000,000?

Well, a man named Jeremy Harper knows!

Jeremy set a Guinness World Record by counting aloud to 1,000,000.

He started on June 18, 2007, and finished 89 days later, on September 14.

Every day, he spent 16 hours counting, and people could watch him live online.

He stayed in his home the entire time and didn't shave.

Jeremy's counting also helped raise over $10,000 US dollars for a charity!

If you have a fun fact, a joke, or interesting news you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [email protected], and you might hear it at the end of an episode!

We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!