Population and Demographics

The people of Taiwan are officially Chinese citizens under the Republic of China government and the majority of the population are are regarded as ethnic Han descent from the adjacent Fujian province in mainland China. Despite this, there is a tendency for citizens to identify themselves as Taiwanese to clarify that they not a citizen of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The ROC's population was estimated in 2005 at 22.9 million, most of whom are on Taiwan Island. About 98% of the population is of Han Chinese ethnicity. Of these, 86% are descendants of early Han immigrants known as 'native Taiwanese'. This group contains two subgroups: the Southern Fujianese or 'Hokkien' or 'Min-nan' (70% of the total population), who migrated from the coastal Southern Fujian (Min-nan) region in the southeast of Mainland China; and the Hakka (15% of the total population), who originally migrated south to Guangdong, its surrounding areas and Taiwan, intermarrying extensively with Taiwanese aborigines. The remaining 12% of Han Chinese are known as Mainlanders and are composed of and descend from immigrants who arrived after the Second World War. This group also includes those who fled mainland China in 1949 following the Nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War.

The other 2% of Taiwan's population, numbering about 458,000, are listed as the Taiwanese, divided into 12 major groups: Ami, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Saisiyat, Tao (Yami), Thao, Kavalan and Taroko.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 22,858,872
• Age Structure:
  • 0-14 years: 17.8% (male 2,117,051/female 1,954,709)
  • 15-64 years: 72% (male 8,306,351/female 8,141,268)
  • 65 years and over: 10.2% (male 1,150,001/female 1,189,492)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 35.5 years
  • Male: 35 years
  • Female: 36 years
• Population Growth Rate: 0.304%
• Birth Rate: 8.97 births/1,000 population
• Death rate: 6.54 deaths/1,000 population
• Net Migration Rate: 0.61 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.09 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.083 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.967 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 1.026 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 5.54 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 5.86 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 5.19 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 77.56 years
  • Male: 74.65 years
  • Female: 80.74 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 1.12 children born/woman
• Ethnic Groups:
  • Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%
  • Mainland Chinese 14%
  • Indigenous 2%
• Religions:
  • Mixture of Buddhist and Taoist 93%
  • Christian 4.5%
  • Other 2.5%
• Languages:
  • Mandarin Chinese (official)
  • Taiwanese (Min)
  • Hakka dialects
• Literacy: total population: 96.1%