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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. Half the population are religious with 25 recognized religions. Around 93% of the religious 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% and a fertility rate of 1.57 children (below the 2.1 births average needed to replace the existing population) for the year 2006. The official national language is Mandarin though the majority 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 sinicized despite a program by the ROC government to preserve the languages.

Nationality

The people of Taiwan are officially Chinese citizens under the ROC government and the majority of the population are of ethnic 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

Overview: Taiwanese 84% including Hoklo 70% and Hakka 14%; remainder 15% mainland Chinese, aborigine 2% (12 recognized tribes)

The population of Taiwan consist of 84% who identify as Taiwanese while 15% are recent immigrants, especially the Mainland Chinese and more recent immigrants from Southeast Asia. The remainder 2% are aborigines (less than 500,000). Currently, more than 60% of the population of Taiwan consider themselves Taiwanese whereas only 34% consider themselves both Chinese and Taiwanese. This is consistent because most Hakka consider themselves Chinese, so if you add that number to the Mainlanders, the total is close to the 34%. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/11/29/2003338355

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 immigrants 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.

Taiwanese

The term Taiwanese refers to people born in Taiwan or identify as citizens of the Republic of China. Approximately two-thirds 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. These two ethnic groups regard themselves as native Taiwanese (本省人 Běnshěngrén; literally "home-province person") and consider the more recent Chinese immigrants that fled mainland China during the Chinese Civil War as Mainlanders (外省人 Wàishěngrén; literally "external-province person"). There is tension between the "Taiwanese" and "Mainlanders" in Taiwan with the former seeking independence while the latter seeking to unite with mainland China.

Languages

Overview: 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.

The majority speak a variant form of Southern Fujianese (Min Nan dialect) which is commonly referred to as Taiwanese. 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.

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

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

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

Statistics on registered religions (2002)

About half 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 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.

Note: Statistics for the following religions are missing from the table above:

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

Source: Taipei Times.

Population

According to May 2006 statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the population of the 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). 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 has jurisdiction over a few small islands off the coast of mainland Fujian province.

The Republic of China (Taiwan) is ranked 48th 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

Total: 422,738 (May 2006 est.)

Source: Ministry of the Interior (MOI) (Spreadsheet data: m5-08.xls)

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 (Taiwan) is ranked 34th in the world for highest life expectancy at birth.

Source: CIA World Factbook (2006 est.)

Births & Deaths

Population growth rate

Source: CIA World Factbook

Fertility rate

1.57 children born/woman (2006 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

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

Military manpower

The Republic of China (Taiwan) 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

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

References

1. "Taiwan". CIA - The World Factbook. November 14, 2006.
2. ^ "Taiwan Yearbook 2004 - Religion". Taipei Times. 2004.

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