The population in the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China was estimated in July 2007 at 22,858,872¹ spread across a total land area of 35,980 km², making it the fifteenth most densely populated country in the world with a population density of 635 people per km². According to official governmental statistics, 98% of Taiwan's population is made up of Han Chinese, while 2% are Taiwanese aborigines². Half the population are followers of one or a mixture of 25 recognized religions. Around 93% of the religious population are followers of a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, while a minority 4.5% are followers of Christianity.

Taiwan is suffering from a decline in birth rates with a population growth of just 0.30% and a fertility rate of 1.12 children (below the 2.1 births average needed to replace the existing population) for the year 2007. The official national language is Standard Mandarin, although a majority also speak Taiwanese (variant of Min Nan; a Fujian dialect) and Hakka. Japanese speakers are becoming rare as the elderly generation who lived under Japanese rule are dying out. Aboriginal languages are gradually becoming extinct as the aborigines have become acculturated despite a program by the ROC government to preserve the languages.

Nationality

Main article: Political status of Taiwan

The people of Taiwan are officially "Chinese citizens" under the Republic of China government and the majority of the population are descendants of Han Chinese immigrants from the adjacent Fujian province in mainland China. Most identify themselves as Taiwanese (臺灣人 Táiwānrén) to clarify that they are from Taiwan, not from mainland China (大陸人 Dālùrén; "mainlander/people from the mainland").

Ethnic groups

Main article: List of ethnic groups in Taiwan

Overview: Han 98% (Benshengren 84% including Hoklo 70%, Hakka 14%, and Waishengren 15%), aborigine 2% (13 recognized tribes)

Officially, the population of Taiwan consist of 98% Han Chinese, of which 84% identify as Benshengren (本省人 Běnshěngrén; literally "home-province person") while 15% are mainlanders or Waishengren (外省人 Wàishěngrén; literally "external-province person"). The remainder 2% are aborigines (less than 500,000). A confounding factor is intermarriage between these ethnic groups.

Taiwanese

Main article: Taiwanese people

Taiwanese ethnicities. Source: ROC government.

98% of Taiwanese are Han Chinese. Approximately two-thirds of those are descendants of early immigrants (70% of ethnic Hoklo and 15% of ethnic Hakka) from the adjacent Fujian (Hokkien) and Guangdong (Canton) province who crossed the Taiwan Strait to work for the Dutch during the 17th century. Many settlers intermarried with Plains Aborigines. Studies show that more than 90% have partial Aborigines descent. Both Hakka and Hoklo speakers regard themselves as Benshengren and consider the mainland Chinese immigrants around the late 1940s during the Chinese Civil War as Waishengren.

Aborigine

Main article: Taiwanese aborigines

The total population of aborigines was estimated in May 2006 to be 468,602 which is about 2% of the total population of Taiwan. The aborigines inhabit the eastern half of Taiwan which consists mostly of mountainous terrain.

Note: Source data obtained from ROC Ministry of the Interior website (Spreadsheet data: m1-04.xls)

The ROC government officially recognizes thirteen aborigine tribes (原住民; yuánzhùmín; literally "original inhabitants"). These are: Ami, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Saisiyat, Tao (Yami), Thao, Kavalan, Truku, and Sakizaya. Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan classified and recognized nine tribes based on linguistic and cultural data, this criteria was modified and included in the official ROC ethnographies of Taiwanese people. The Thao, Kavalan, Truku, and Sakiazya tribes were recognized much later in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2007 respectively by the ROC government. There are at least another dozen tribes that are not recognized by the government.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Taiwan

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

Almost everyone in Taiwan born after the early 1950s can speak Mandarin, which has been the official language and the medium of instruction in the schools since for more than four decades. The Mandarin spoken in Taiwan has minor differences than those spoken in mainland China, South-east Asia and other regions of the world, similar to situations applicable to US and UK English.

The majority speak a variant form of Southern Fujianese (Min Nan dialect) which is commonly referred to as Taiwanese and was the most common language prior to the ROC takeover. The ethnic Hakka have a distinct Hakka dialect. Between 1900 and 1945 Japanese was the medium of instruction and could be fluently spoken by many of the educated during that period. Chinese romanisation in Taiwan uses both Tongyong pinyin which has been officially adopted by the national government, and Hanyu pinyin which some localities use. Wade-Giles, used traditionally, is also found, as well as Vietnamese. The ROC government has announced that, from 1 January 2009, Tongyong pinyin will be abondoned for Hanyu pinyin throughout Taiwan.

On Kinmen (Quemoy) the language spoken is also Min Nan. On the Matsu Islands, Foochow dialect, a Min Dong (eastern Fujianese) dialect, is spoken.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Taiwan

Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of China guarantees freedom of religion as a right of all its citizens. As of 2002^[update], the Republic of China government recognizes 25 religions which are registered with the Civil Affairs Department of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).³

Statistics on registered religions (2005)

About 81.3% of the population can be considered religious believers, most of whom identify themselves as Buddhists or Taoists. At the same time there is a strong belief in folk religion. These are not considered mutually exclusive, and many people practice a combination of the three. Confucianism also is an honored school of thought and ethical codes. Christian churches have been active in Taiwan for many years, a majority of which are Protestant, with Presbyterians playing a particularly significant role. The ROC government has diplomatic relations with the Holy See, which is the only European nation to formally recognize the ROC and is the ROC's longest lasting diplomatic ally, having established relations in 1942. Islam is a static religion but has seen a surge in recent years as a result of foreign Muslims seeking work in Taiwan, most notably from Indonesia. There is also a small group of Shinto followers under the Tenrikyo sect which began in the 1970s.

The table shows official statistics on religion issued by the Department of Civil Affairs, Ministry of the Interior ("MOI"), in 2005. The ROC government recognizes 26 religions in Taiwan.⁴ The statistics are reported by the various religious organizations to the MOI:⁴⁵

Statistics for the following religions and new religious movements are missing from the table above:

• Xian Tian Jiu Jiao (先天救教)
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (耶穌基督後期聖徒教會)
• Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (世界基督教統一神靈協會)

Source: Taipei Times.³

Population

According to May 2006 statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the population of the Taiwan Area of Republic of China was 22,805,547, 99.6% of which live in Taiwan Province (Note: Taipei City and Kaohsiung City are municipalities and thus officially not part of Taiwan Province), Taipei City, or Kaohsiung City. The remaining 0.4% (82,618) live across the Taiwan Strait just off the coast of Fujian in mainland China. The ROC has jurisdiction over Taiwan Province and parts of Fukien Province (Fujian), the latter consists of a few islands administered as two counties, Kinmen and Matsu (Lienchiang). Fujian province is divided between the PRC and ROC.

The Republic of China is ranked 49th most populous nation in the world.

Notes:

Age structure

Source: CIA World Factbook (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.1 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.09 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.99 male(s)/female

total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Foreign residents

Foreign residents in Taiwan

Nationality / Origin	Male	Female	Total
Vietnam	13,185	91,622	104,807 (24.47%)
Thailand	76,476	20,171	96,647 (22.57%)
Indonesia	9,663	80,253	89,916 (21.00%)
Philippines	27,611	59,017	86,628 (20.23%)
United States	7,351	2,823	10,174 (2.38%)
Japan	5,842	3,830	9,672 (2.26%)
Malaysia	4,219	3,526	7,745 (1.81%)
Others	12,212	10,439	22,651 (5.28%)
Total	156,559	271,681	428,240

• 2006 Census
• Note:The number of overstayed foreign residents is not included.

Source: National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior (MOI)

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)

-0.38 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

The Republic of China is ranked 42nd in the world for highest life expectancy at birth.

Source: CIA World Factbook (2006 est.)

Births and deaths

Population growth rate

Source: CIA World Factbook

Fertility rate

1.12 children born/woman (2007 est.)

Birth rate

12.56 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

14.42 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 6.29 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 6.97 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 5.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Death rate

6.48 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

5.91 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Main article: HIV/AIDS in Taiwan

The first reported case of HIV/AIDS was recorded in December 1984 and the first local infection recorded in February 1986. As of May 2006, there were 11,486 recorded cases of HIV of which 2,631 were confirmed with AIDS. There were 1,425 deaths leaving 10,029 people living with HIV/AIDS. This is less than 0.5% of the total population of Taiwan. Statistics by the Center for Disease Control show that the gender distribution of infected person was 90% male and 10% female.

Source: Center for Disease Control (CDC), Republic of China - May 2006 est.(PDF file) (Chinese)

Military manpower

Main articles: Conscription in the Republic of China and Military of the Republic of China

The Republic of China has a compulsory military draft for males aged 19-35 years of age with a service obligation of 16 months (to be reduced to 12 months in 2008).

Available manpower

Defined as 19-49 years of age.

Fit for military service

Of the available manpower, the following are fit for military service. Defined as 19-49 years of age.

Education

Main article: Education in Taiwan

Taiwan has a nine-year compulsory education program initiated by the Ministry of Education in 1968. This consists of six years in elementary education and three years in junior high education. About 94.7% of junior high graduates continue their studies in either a senior high or vocational school^{citation needed}. Reflecting a strong commitment to education, in FY 2001 16% of the ROC budget was allocated for education^{citation needed}. The enrolment rate was 96.77% for the school year 2004-2005.⁶ For the school year 2005-2006, there were 5,283,855 students in both public and private schools, about a quarter of the entire population. The literacy rate is above 95%.

Taiwan has an extensive higher education system with more than 100 institutions of higher learning. Each year over 100,000 students take the joint college entrance exam; about 66.6% of the candidates are admitted to a college or university^{citation needed}. Opportunities for graduate education are expanding in Taiwan, but many students travel abroad for advanced education, including 13,000 who study in the United States annually^{citation needed}.

Since the mid-1990s, the government has introduced several education reforms in a bid to further improve education standards such as the replacement in 2002 of the 48-year long Joint University Entrance Examination (JUEE; 大學聯考; Dàxué liánkǎo) which had been set up in 1954.

See also: List of universities in Taiwan

Distribution of students

Source: Number of students at each level (SY 2005-2006), Ministry of Education, Republic of China.

Literacy

Definition of literacy is those aged 15 and over who can read and write.

Source: CIA World Factbook (2003 est.)

See also

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References