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The Republic of China's population was estimated in July 2006 at 23,036,087 spread across a total land area of 35,980 km² making it the twelfth most densely populated country in the world with a population density of 886 people per km². 98% of Taiwan's population is made up of Chinese while 2% are aborigines. An estimated 93% of the population worship a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism while a minority 4.5% worship Christianity. Taiwan is suffering a decline in birth rates with a population growth of just 0.61% for the year 2006. The official national language is Mandarin though the majority speak Taiwanese (Minnanese; 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 becoming extinct as the aborigines have become sinicized and the ROC government has acted too late to preserve the Formosan languages.

Nationality

The people of Taiwan are officially Chinese citizens under the ROC government and the majority of the population are of ethnic Han Chinese descent from the adjacent Fujian province in mainland China. Despite this, there is a tendency for citizens to identify themselves as Taiwanese (臺灣人 Táiwānrén) to clarify that they not a citizen of the People's Republic of China (PRC) (大陸人 Dālùrén; "mainlander/people from the continent").

Ethnic groups

Aborigine

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 mountaneous terrain. Due to the historical influx of Chinese from across the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan, the aborigines who originally settled the lowland plains of western Taiwan were forced eastwards into the mountains and came to be known as the mountain people (高山族; gāoshānzú)

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

The ROC government officially recognizes twelve aborigine tribes (原住民; yuánzhùmín; literally "original inhabitants"). These are: Ami, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Saisiyat, Tao (Yami), Thao, Kavalan and Truku. Originally, only nine tribes were recognized, dating back to the time of the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan. The Thao, Kavalan and Truku tribes were recognized much later in 2001, 2002 and 2004 respectively by the ROC government. There are at least another dozen tribes that are not recognized by the government.

Ethnic groups

Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%

In Taiwan, approximately 84% of the population descend from early immigrants from the Chinese mainland who crossed the Taiwanese Strait and are referred to as native Taiwanese (Chinese: 本省人; pinyin: Bensheng ren; literally "home-province person"), who themselves are broken into two groups. These are the Hakka (客家), 15% of the total population), whose ancestors came from Guangdong Province, and the Southern Fujianese or Hoklo (Hō-ló 福佬), comprising 70% of the total population, who migrated from the coastal southern Fujian region in the southeast of mainland China. Contrary to popular belief, this population is of non-Han origin, according to Dr. M. Lin (Mackay Memorial Hospital) who published a study titled "The origin of Minnan & Hakka, the so-called "Taiwanese", inferred by HLA study" that showed that, based on DNA evidence, the majority of Minnan or Hoklo or Hakka peoples actually originated from the ancient Yueh or Yue peoples who were indigenous to the southeast coast, rather than the Han population from the north. http://www.wufi.org.tw/eng/linmalie.htm True Han Chinese immigrants comprise only 14% of Taiwan's population, also referred to as "Mainlanders" (外省人; Waisheng ren; literally "external-province person"). This group descends from those who fled mainland China in 1949 following the Nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Dalu ren (大陸人) refers to residents of Mainland China. This group excludes almost all native Taiwanese. It also excludes foreign brides from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines or foreign grooms of which a greater number come from Western countries. One in seven marriages now involves a partner from another country. As Taiwan's birthrate is among the lowest in the world , this contingent is playing an increasingly important role in changing Taiwan's demographic makeup.

The human leukocyte antigen typing study and mitochondrion DNA analysis performed in recent years show that more than 88% of the native Taiwanese population have some degree of aboriginal origin.

Languages

Languages

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

Almost everyone in the Republic of China born after the early 1950s can speak Mandarin, which has been the medium of instruction in the schools for more than four decades.

A large fraction of the people in Taiwan also speak one of the Southern Fujianese dialects, Min-nan, also known as Taiwanese. The 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.

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

Religion

About half of the ROC 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 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.

Religions

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

Population

99.6% of which live in Taiwan Province (Note: Taipei City and Kaohsiung City are municipalities and thus officially not part of Taiwan Province). 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 Fukien Province, the latter consists of a few islands administered as two counties, Kinmen and Matsu (Lienchiang). Not many people know that Fujian province is divided between the PRC and ROC, though the ROC only controls only a few small islands off the coast of mainland Fujian Province. Taiwan is the 14th most densely population country in the world

Statistical data obtained from The World Factbook published by the CIA unless stated otherwise.

Population

23,036,087 (July 2006 est.)

Notes:

Foreign residents

Foreign residents

422,738 (May 2006 est.)

Note: Source data obtained from ROC Ministry of the Interior website (Spreadsheet data: m5-08.xls)

Births & Deaths

Population growth rate

0.61% (2006 est.)

0.81% (2000 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.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 77.43 years

male: 74.67 years

female: 80.47 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.57 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Death rate

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

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

Age structure

Age structure

0-14 years: 19.4% (male 2,330,951/female 2,140,965)

15-64 years: 70.8% (male 8,269,421/female 8,040,169)

65 years and over: 9.8% (male 1,123,429/female 1,131,152) (2006 est.)

Sex ratio

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.)

Net migration rate:

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

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

HIV/AIDS

The first reported case of HIV/AIDS was recorded in December 1984 and the first local infection recorded in Februrary 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 (Taiwan) - May 2006 est.(PDF file) Template:Zh icon

Education

Literacy

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

Source: CIA World Factbook (2003 est.)

See also

Template:ChineseText

• Taiwan
• Republic of China

• Culture of Taiwan

1. "Taiwan". CIA - The World Factbook. November 14, 2006.

• Demographics by country
• Taiwan
• Stateless peoples