PROFILE
OFFICIAL NAME: Taiwan
GEOGRAPHY
Area:
35,967 sq. km. (13,887 sq. mi.).
Cities
(2006):
Capital--Taipei
(pop. 2.6 million). Other cities--(Kaohsiung
1.5 million), Taichung (1.0 million).
Climate:
Maritime subtropical.
PEOPLE
Population
(Dec. 2006 est.) 22.9 million.
Annual growth rate
(2006): 0.47%.
Languages:
Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese, Hakka.
Education: Years compulsory--9.
Attendance
(2006)--99.4%. Literacy
(2005)--97.3 %.
Health:
Infant mortality rate
(2006 est.)--0.63%. Life expectancy
(2006) male 74.57 yrs.; female 80.81 yrs.
Work force
(2006):10.6 million.
POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT
Type:
Multi-party democracy. There are four major parties forming two
alliances known as Pan-Blue and Pan-Green. The Pan-Blue includes the
Kuomintang (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP). The Pan-Green
includes the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan
Solidarity Union (TSU). The Pan-Blue coalition holds a slight majority
of seats in the Legislative Yuan (LY).
Constitution: December 25, 1946; last amended 2005.
Major political parties:
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP); Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist
Party); People First Party (PFP); Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
Suffrage:
Universal over 20 years of age.
ECONOMY
GNP
(2006): $366 billion.
Real annual growth rate
(2006): 4.6%.
Per capita GNP
(2006): $16,098.
Unemployment
(2006) 3.9%.
Natural resources:
Small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble and asbestos.
Agriculture
(1.6% of GDP): Major products--pork,
rice, fruit and vegetables, sugarcane, poultry, shrimp, eel.
Services:
(73.4% of GDP). Industry (25.0% of GDP):
Types--electronics and computer products,
chemicals and petrochemicals, basic metals, machinery, textiles,
transport equipment, plastics, machinery.
Trade
(2006): Exports--$224
billion: electronics, optical & precision instruments, information and
communications products, textile products, basic metals, plastic and
rubber products.
Major markets--U.S. $32
billion, P.R.C. and Hong Kong $89 billion, Japan $16 billion.
Imports--$203
billion: electronics, optical & precision instruments, information &
communications products, machinery & electrical products, chemicals,
basic metals, transport equipment, crude oil.
Major suppliers--Japan $46
billion, P.R.C. $27 billion, U.S. $23 billion.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Taiwan has a population of 22.9 million. More than 18 million, the
"native" Taiwanese, are descendants of Chinese who migrated from Fujian
and Guangdong Provinces on the mainland, primarily in the 18th and 19th
centuries. The "mainlanders," who arrived in Taiwan after 1945, came
from all parts of mainland China. About 475,000 "aborigines" inhabit the
mountainous central and eastern parts of the island and are believed to
be of Malayo-Polynesian origin. Of Taiwan's total population,
approximately one million, or 4.4%, currently reside in Mainland China.