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Location: Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area:
total area: 35,980 sq km
land area: 32,260 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland and Delaware combined
note: includes the Pescadores, Matsu, and Quemoy
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 1,448 km
Climate: tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon (June to August); cloudiness is persistent and extensive all year
Terrain: eastern two-thirds mostly rugged mountains; flat to gently rolling plains in west
Natural resources: small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos
Land use:
arable land: 24%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 5%
forest and woodland: 55%
other: 15%
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Population: 21,500,583 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 24% (female 2,543,134; male 2,665,878)
15-64 years: 68% (female 7,191,964; male 7,482,814)
65 years and over: 8% (female 734,535; male 882,258) (July 1995 est.)
Population growth rate: 0.93% (1995 est.)
Birth rate: 15.33 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Death rate: 5.71 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 5.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.47 years
male: 72.17 years
female: 78.93 years (1995 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.81 children born/woman (1995 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Chinese (singular and plural)
adjective: Chinese
Ethnic divisions: Taiwanese 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%
Religions: mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1980)
total population: 86%
male: 93%
female: 79%
Labor force: 7.9 million
by occupation: industry and commerce 53%, services 22%, agriculture 15.6%, civil
administration 7% (1989)
Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Taiwan
local long form: none
local short form: T'ai-wan
Digraph: TW
Type: multiparty democratic regime; opposition political parties legalized in March, 1989
Capital: Taipei
Administrative divisions: some of the ruling party in Taipei claim to be the government of all
China; in keeping with that claim, the central administrative divisions include
2 provinces (sheng, singular and plural) and 2 municipalities* (shih, singular
and plural) - Fu-chien (some 20 offshore islands of Fujian Province including
Quemoy and Matsu), Kao-hsiung*, T'ai-pei*, and Taiwan (the island of Taiwan
and the Pescadores islands); the more commonly referenced administrative
divisions are those of Taiwan Province - 16 counties (hsien, singular and
plural), 5 municipalities* (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special municipalities**
(chuan-shih, singular and plural); Chang-hua, Chia-i, Chia-i*, Chi-lung*,
Hsin-chu, Hsin-chu*, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung, Kao-hsiung**, Miao-li,
Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu, P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung, T'ai-chung*, T'ai-nan, T'ai-nan*,
T'ai-pei, T'ai-pei**, T'ai-tung, T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin; the provincial capital
is at Chung-hsing-hsin-ts'un
note: Taiwan uses the Wade-Giles system for romanization
National holiday: National Day, 10 October (1911) (Anniversary of the Revolution)
Constitution: 1 January 1947, amended in 1992, presently undergoing revision
Legal system: based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal
Overview: Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with considerable government guidance of investment and foreign trade and partial government ownership of some large banks and industrial firms. Real growth in GNP has averaged about 9% a year during the past three decades. Export growth has been even faster and has provided the impetus for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment are remarkably low. Agriculture contributes about 4% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952. Taiwan currently ranks as number 13 among major trading countries. Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in China, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The tightening of labor markets has led toan influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $257 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate: 6% (1994 est.)
National product per capita: $12,070 (1994 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.2% (1994 est.)
Unemployment rate: 1.6% (1994)
Budget:
revenues: $30.3 billion
expenditures: $30.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA(1991 est.)
Exports: $93 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities: electrical machinery 19.7%, electronic products 19.6%, textiles 10.9%,
footwear 3.3%, foodstuffs 1.0%, plywood and wood products 0.9% (1993 est.)
partners: US 27.6%, Hong Kong 21.7%, EC countries 15.2%, Japan 10.5% (1994 est.)
Imports: $85.1 billion (c.i.f., 1994)
commodities: machinery and equipment 15.7%, electronic products 15.6%, chemicals
9.8%, iron and steel 8.5%, crude oil 3.9%, foodstuffs 2.1% (1993 est.)
partners: Japan 30.1%, US 21.7%, EC countries 17.6% (1993 est.)
External debt: $620 million (1992 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 4.5% (1994 est.); accounts for more than 40% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity: 21,460,000 kW
production: 108 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 4,789 kWh (1993)
Industries: electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing, food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, petroleum refining
Agriculture: accounts for 4% of GDP and 16% of labor force (includes part-time farmers); heavily subsidized sector; major crops - vegetables, rice, fruit, tea; livestock - hogs, poultry, beef, milk; not self-sufficient in wheat, soybeans, corn; fish catch increasing, reached 1.4 million metric tons in 1988
Currency: 1 New Taiwan dollar (NT$) = 100 cents
Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June
Railroads:
total: 4,600 km; note - 1,075 km incommon carrier service and about 3,525
km is dedicated to industrial use
narrow gauge: 4,600 km 1.067-m
Highways:
total: 20,041 km
paved: bituminous, concrete pavement 17,095 km
unpaved: crushed stone, gravel 2,371 km; graded earth 575 km
Pipelines: petroleum products 615 km; natural gas 97 km
Ports: Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung, Su-ao, T'ai-chung
Merchant marine:
total: 198 ships(1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,635,682 GRT/8,652,111 DWT
ships by type: bulk 55, cargo 30, chemical tanker 1, combination bulk 2, combination
ore/oil 1, container 78, oil tanker 17, passenger-cargo 1, refrigerated
cargo 12, roll-on/roll-off cargo 1
Airports:
total: 41
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 8
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 11
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 6
with paved runways under 914 m: 8
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 2