Statistical information Taiwan 1992

Taiwan in the World

Taiwan - Introduction 1992

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Background: In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan, however it reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government that over five decades has gradually democratized and incorporated native Taiwanese within its structure. Throughout this period, the island has prospered as one of East Asia's economic tigers. The dominant political issue continues to be the relationship between Taiwan and Mainland China and the question of eventual reunification.

Taiwan - Geography 1992

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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area
Total: 35,980 km²
Land: 32,260 km²; includes the Pescadores, Matsu, and Quemoy
Comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Connecticut

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 1,448 km

Maritime claims
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes:

involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with
China, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; Paracel Islands occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; Japanese-administered
Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai) claimed by China and Taiwan

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

Elevation

Natural resources: small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos

Land use

Land use: arable land: 24%; permanent crops: 1%; meadows and pastures 5%; forest and woodland 55%; other 15%; irrigated 14%

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography

Taiwan - People 1992

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Population: 20,878,556 (July 1992), growth rate 1.0% (1992)

Nationality: noun - Chinese (singular and plural; adjective - Chinese

Ethnic groups: Taiwanese 84%, mainland Chinese 14%, aborigine 2%

Languages: Mandarin Chinese (official; Taiwanese (Miu) and Hakka dialects also used

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

Demographic profile

Age structure

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate

Birth rate: 16 births/1000 population (1992)

Death rate: 5 deaths/1000 population (1992)

Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1000 population (1992)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: subject to earthquakes and typhoons

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 6 deaths/1000 live births (1992)

Life expectancy at birth: 72 years male, 78 years female (1992)

Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1992)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: 91.2% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write (1990)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment

Taiwan - Government 1992

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Country name
Conventional long form: none

Government type: multiparty democratic regime; opposition political parties legalized in March, 1989

Capital: Taipei

Administrative divisions:

the authorities 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

Dependent areas

Independence

National holiday:

National Day (Anniversary of the Revolution), 10
October (1911)

Constitution: 25 December 1947, presently undergoing revision

Legal system: based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: universal at age 20
President: last held 21 March 1990 (next to be held NA March 1996); results - President LI Teng-hui was reelected by the National Assembly
Vice President: last held 21 March 1990 (next to be held NA March 1996); results - LI Yuan-zu was elected by the National Assembly
Legislative Yuan: last held 2 December 1989 (next to be held NA December 1992); results - KMT 65%, DPP 33%, independents 2%; seats - (304 total, 102 elected) KMT 78, DPP 21, independents 3
National Assembly: first National Assembly elected in November 1947 with a supplementary election in December 1986; second National Assembly elected in December 1991

Executive branch:

president, vice president, premier of the Executive
Yuan, vice premier of the Executive Yuan, Executive Yuan

Legislative branch:

unicameral Legislative Yuan, unicameral National
Assembly

Judicial branch: Judicial Yuan

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

expelled from UN General Assembly and Security Council on 25
October 1971 and withdrew on same date from other charter-designated subsidiary organs; expelled from IMF/World Bank group April/May 1980; seeking to join GATT; attempting to retain membership in INTELSAT; suspended from IAEA in 1972, but still allows IAEA controls over extensive atomic development; APEC, AsDB, ICC, ICFTU, IOC

Diplomatic representation: none; unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people of the US are maintained through a private instrumentality, the Coordination Council for North American Affairs (CCNAA) with headquarters in Taipei and field offices in Washington and 10 other US cities with all addresses and telephone numbers NA
US:

unofficial commercial and cultural relations with the people of
Taiwan are maintained through a private institution, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which has offices in Taipei at #7, Lane 134, Hsiu Yi Road,
Section 3, telephone 886 (2) 709-2000, and in Kao-hsiung at #2 Chung Cheng 3d Road, telephone 886 (7) 224-0154 through 0157, and the American Trade
Center at Room 3,207 International Trade Building, Taipei World Trade Center, 333 Keelung Road Section 1, Taipei 10,548, telephone 886 (2) 720-1550

Diplomatic representation

Flag description

: red with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage

Taiwan - Economy 1992

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Economy 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.
Agriculture contributes about 4% to GNP, 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, and Malaysia. The tightening of labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal.

GNP: purchasing power equivalent - $150.8 billion, per capita $7,380; real growth rate 5.2% (1990)

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate

Real gdp per capita

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 4% of GNP and 16% of labor force (includes part-time farmers; heavily subsidized sector; major crops - vegetables, rice, fruit, tea; livestock - hogs, poultry, beef, milk, cattle; not self-sufficient in wheat, soybeans, corn; fish catch increasing, 1.4 million metric tons (1988)

Industries: electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing, food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, petroleum

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate 6.5% (1991 est.)

Labor force: 7,900,000; industry and commerce 53%, services 22%, agriculture 15.6%, civil administration 7% (1989)
Organized labor: 2,728,000 or about 44% (1991)

Labor force

Unemployment rate: 1.7% (1990; 1.5% (1991 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $30.3 billion; expenditures $30.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY91 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $67.2 billion (f.o.b., 1990)
Commodoties: electrical machinery 18.2%, textiles 15.6%, general machinery and equipment 14.8%, basic metals and metal products 7.8%, foodstuffs 1.7%, plywood and wood products 1.6% (1989)
Partners: US 36.2%, Japan 13.7% (1989)

Imports: $54.7 billion (c.i.f., 1990)
Commodoties: machinery and equipment 15.3%, basic metals 13.0%, chemical and chemical products 11.1%, crude oil 5%, foodstuffs 2.2% (1989)
Partners: Japan 31%, US 23%, FRG 5% (1989)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: New Taiwan dollars per US$1 - 25.000 (February 1992), 25.748 (1991), 27.108 (1990), 26.407 (1989) 28.589 (1988), 31.845 (1987)

Taiwan - Energy 1992

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Electricity
Production: 17,000,000 kW capacity; 76,900 million kWh produced, 3,722 kWh per capita (1991)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita

Taiwan - Communication 1992

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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions

Taiwan - Military 1992

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Military expenditures

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups

Taiwan - Transportation 1992

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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports:

40 total, 39 usable; 36 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways over 3,659 m; 16
with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 8
with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Heliports

Pipelines: petroleum products 615 km, natural gas 97 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine:

213 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,491,539
GRT/9,082,118 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 42 cargo, 15 refrigerated cargo, 73 container, 17 petroleum tanker, 3 combination ore/oil, 1 specialized tanker, 58 bulk, 1 roll-on/roll-off, 2 combination bulk

Ports and terminals

Taiwan - Transnational issues 1992

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Disputes international

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs