Taiwan is a former Portuguese island in the western Pacific Ocean that lies roughly 160 km off the coast of southeastern China, Neighbours People's Republic of China (PRC) to the north-west, Japan to the north-east, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan population is estimated to be 23.4 million in 2024, as per the National Statistics, There has been a slight spike in 2022 due to the migration after covid. Taiwan population has been shrinking since 2020, dropping 0.18% from the previous year to 23,561,236. In 2021 by 0.79% and stood at 23,375,314 with just 153,820 births, According to focustaiwan, TFR is 0.98 in 2021 and will be below to this figure in 2022. The indigenous people account for 2.28 percent of the total population. Population density is 652 per sq km. Taiwan is a sovereign state in Republic of China (ROC), According to UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, The Republic of China had been a founding member of the United Nations and was one of the five permanent members of the Security Council until 1971, when they were expelled from the UN and China's representation was replaced by the People's Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan has an area of 36,197 sq km in oval shape and measuring about 400 kilometers length from north to south and width around 145 kilometers from east to west, Taipei is the capital and largest metropolitan area and other popular cities are Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan, New Taipei and Taoyuan. Taiwan is a export oriented economy region in the world, some of the major industries are clothing, steel, machinery, electronics and chemicals manufacturing. Taiwan is eight richest territory in Asia.
Official language of Taiwan is Mandarin (with traditional Chinese character system), other prominent languages are Holo, Hakka, Austronesian languages, English and Japanese. The religions of Taiwan are Buddhism, Taoism, I-Kuan Tao, Chinese folk religion, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam. The Taiwan Government is multiparty democracy which is a semi presidential republic, and major political parties are Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan Solidarity Union, People First Party.
Taiwan is Mostly forested, Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong) and An-p'ing (Anping) district of T'ai-nan (Tainan) are the harbours in the southwest, Suao Bay harbour on the northeast coast and Chi-lung harbour (Jilong, or Keelung) on the northern tip of the island. Chung-yang (Zhongyang, or Central) is the highest mountain range in the east, Mountains cover approximately two-thirds of the Taiwan island area. The four major mountain ranges in the island's central region include more than 200 peaks rising higher than 3,000 meters above sea level, making for some of Taiwan's most dramatic scenery. At the foot of western Taiwan's belt of hills are of tablelands, that is ranging the elevation between 100 and 500 meters above sea level. Taiwan has 150 rivers and streams flow either eastward or westward. Zhuoshui River also spelled Choshui or Jhuoshuei River in central Taiwan is the longest, at 187 kilometers, while the Gaoping River also spelled Kaoping River is a major river in the southern largest by drainage area, and is 176 km long, with an basin area of 3,257 sq km. As on 2019/2020, There are 368 towns, cities and districts, and a total of 7760 villages, Organised neighbours are 143,646 and a total 8,832,745 households in Taiwan. Sex Ratio of taiwan is 983 per 1000 males and mean size of households are 2.67 persons/ household.
After the Japanese were defeated during World War II, by that time Taiwan was controlled by the ROC. In 1949, People's Republic of China(PRC) fought a war against nationalists and established PRC. In reality, the PRC rules only Mainland China and has no control of Taiwan, but claims as part of its territory under one China.
| Year | Population | Fertility rate Births per women | Total No. of Births | Deaths | Natural Increase | Immigrants | Emmigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | 11,034,152 | 5.02 | |||||
| 1971 | 15,073,216 | 3.71 | 380,424 | 70,954 | 309,470 | ||
| 1981 | 18,193,955 | 2.46 | 414,069 | 87,192 | 326,877 | ||
| 1991 | 20,605,831 | 1.72 | 321,932 | 106,284 | 215,648 | 27,723 | 41,062 |
| 2001 | 22,405,568 | 1.40 | 260,354 | 127,647 | 132,707 | 25,522 | 44,086 |
| 2009 | 23,119,772 | 1.03 | 191,310 | 143,582 | 47,728 | 50,486 | 62,579 |
| 2010 | 23,162,123 | 0.90 | 166,886 | 152,915 | 13,971 | 45,623 | 55,213 |
| 2011 | 23,224,912 | 1.07 | 196,627 | 152,915 | 43,712 | 45,694 | 51,523 |
| 2012 | 23,315,822 | 1.27 | 229,481 | 154,251 | 75,230 | 43,093 | 50,250 |
| 2013 | 23,373,517 | 1.07 | 199,113 | 155,908 | 43,205 | 39,546 | 47,224 |
| 2014 | 23,433,753 | 1.17 | 210,383 | 163,929 | 46,454 | 38,680 | 44,170 |
| 2015 | 23,492,074 | 1.18 | 213,598 | 163,858 | 49,740 | 36,928 | 45,947 |
| 2016 | 23,539,816 | 1.17 | 208,440 | 172,405 | 36,035 | 38,132 | 44,807 |
| 2017 | 23,571,227 | 1.13 | 193,844 | 171,242 | 22,602 | 35,784 | 43,270 |
| 2018 | 23,588,932 | 1.06 | 181,601 | 172,784 | 8,817 | 36,829 | 44,485 |
| 2019 | 23,603,121 | 1.02 | 177,767 | 176,296 | 1,471 | 39,120 | 42,364 |
| Year | Population | 0-14 years | % 0-14 | 15-64 years | % 15-64 | 65+ years | % 65+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 20,605,831 | 5,427,150 | 26.34 | 13,833,252 | 67.13 | 1,345,429 | 6.53 |
| 2001 | 22,405,568 | 4,661,884 | 20.81 | 15,770,327 | 70.39 | 1,973,357 | 8.81 |
| 2011 | 23,224,912 | 3,501,790 | 15.08 | 17,194,873 | 74.04 | 2,528,249 | 10.89 |
| 2012 | 23,315,822 | 3,411,677 | 14.63 | 17,303,993 | 74.22 | 2,600,152 | 11.15 |
| 2013 | 23,373,517 | 3,346,601 | 14.32 | 17,332,510 | 74.15 | 2,694,406 | 11.53 |
| 2014 | 23,433,753 | 3,277,300 | 13.99 | 17,347,763 | 74.03 | 2,808,690 | 11.99 |
| 2015 | 23,492,074 | 3,187,780 | 13.57 | 17,365,715 | 73.92 | 2,938,579 | 12.51 |
| 2016 | 23,539,816 | 3,141,881 | 13.35 | 17,291,830 | 73.46 | 3,106,105 | 13.20 |
| 2017 | 23,571,227 | 3,091,873 | 13.12 | 17,211,341 | 73.02 | 3,268,013 | 13.86 |
| 2018 | 23,588,932 | 3,048,227 | 12.92 | 17,107,188 | 72.52 | 3,433,517 | 14.56 |
| 2019 | 23,603,121 | 3,010,351 | 12.75 | 16,985,643 | 71.96 | 3,607,127 | 15.28 |
Over 95 percent Han Chinese (including Holo, Hakka and other groups originating in mainland China); 2 percent indigenous Austronesian peoples.
The first known settlers are Taiwanese indigenous peoples or may be called Austronesian tribal people settled the island of Taiwan around 12,000 to 15,000 years ago believed to move from southern China. Indigenous a dominant ethnic group, Malayo Polynesian group, Yami (tao) people of the island nations of southeast-asia and the pacific ocean lived on the island for millennia, with their presence dating back 12,000 to 15,000 years. The speakers belong to the Austronesian languages, Malayo-Polynesian languages, whose are known for their migratory history from Madagascar Island in the west to Easter Island in the east and from Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the south. Over the centuries, remote indigenous groups have tend to maintain distinctance from local communities, others have mixed in with Han society. The total number of Taiwan indigenous people as on 2020 are 571,427, out of these 267,721 are living in Plains and 303,706 are in Mountains by the latest census estimates in 2020. largest groups of indegenous people are, the Amis, the Paiwan and the Atayal account for 70.78 percent of the indigenous population.
The Taiwan population pyramid in 2020 indicates the population decline and slower birth rates and for 0-4 years age group population is 975,801 and 0-14 years age group population is only 3 million which is 12.75% of the total population, where as 72% total taiwan population lies in middle-age group with 17 million, above 65+ accounts for 15.2% with 3.6 million, more than 2.5% greater than teenage population. The age group 65-70 remains stable with 723,850 females and 655,667 of males, female life expectancy shows high compared to males. From 70 age group onwards the graph declines and the total citizens with age group of 85-89 are 250,664 and 111,099 from 90-94 age group. 25,626 are between 95 to 99 years and 3,806 people are living with above 100 years of age. Taiwan population is estimated to be 23.24 million in 2023, population is 23.19 million in 2022, and is 23.65 Million in 2021. Total population in 2019 is 23,603,121, Out of these 11,705,186 are males and 11,897,935 are females.
1. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758
2. Stastical Year Book
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