Taiwan | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff
Infoplease has everything you need to know about Taiwan. Check out our country profile, full of essential information about Taiwan's geography, history, government, economy, population, culture, religion and languages. If that's not enough, click over to our collection of world maps and flags.

Facts & Figures

  • President-elect: Tsai Ing-wen (2016)

    Premier: Simon Chang (2016)

    Land area: 12,456 sq mi (32,261 sq km); total area: 13,892 sq mi (35,980 sq km)

    Population (2014 est.): 23,359,928 (growth rate: 0.25%); birth rate: 8.55/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.49/1000; life expectancy: 79.84

    Capital (2014 est.): Taipei, 6,950,646 (metro. area), 2,693,672 (city proper)

    Other large cities: New Taipei, 3,913,595; Kaohsiung, 2,773,855; Taichung, 2,662,770; Tainan, 1,876,706; Hsinchu, 419,384

    Monetary unit: New Taiwan dollar

    Republic of China

    National name: Zhonghua Minguo

    Current government officials

    Languages: Chinese (Mandarin, official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects

    Ethnicity/race: Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%

    Religions: mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%

    Literacy rate: 96.1% (2003)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $926.4 billion; per capita $39,600. Real growth rate: 2.2%. Inflation: 1.1%. Unemployment: 4.1%. Arable land: 24%. Agriculture: rice, vegetables, fruit, tea, flowers, pigs, poultry, fish. Labor force (2013 est.): 11.55 million; agriculture 5%, industry 36.2%, services 58.8% (2012 est). Industries: electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals. Natural resources: small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, asbestos. Exports: $305.8 billion (2013 est.): electronics, flat panels, machinery; metals; textiles, plastics, chemicals; optical, photographic, measuring, and medical instruments. Imports: $268.5 billion (2013 est.): electronics, machinery, crude petroleum, precision instruments, organic chemicals, metals

    Major trading partners: China, U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore (2012).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 15.998 million (2012); mobile cellular: 29.455 million (2011). Broadcast media: free-to-air nationwide television networks operating roughly 75 TV stations; about 85% of households utilize multi-channel cable TV; national and regional radio networks with about 170 radio stations broadcasting (2008) Internet hosts: 6.272 million (2012). Internet users: 16.147 million (2009).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 1,580 km (2010). Highways: total: 41,475 km; paved: 41,033 km (including 720 km of expressways); unpaved: 442 km (2009). Ports and harbors: Chilung (Keelung), Hualien, Kaohsiung, Taichung. Airports: 37 (2013).

    International disputes: involved in complex dispute with Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam over the Spratly Islands, and with China and the Philippines over Scarborough Reef; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; Paracel Islands are occupied by China, but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam; in 2003, China and Taiwan became more vocal in rejecting both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea where all parties engage in hydrocarbon prospecting.

    Major sources and definitions

See also: