Data at glance of Taiwan - average on period

History

First inhabited by Austronesian people, Taiwan became home to Han immigrants beginning in the late Ming Dynasty (17th century). In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan, which then governed Taiwan for 50 years. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang, KMT) control after World War II. With the communist victory in the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Nationalist-controlled Republic of China government and 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and continued to claim to be the legitimate government for mainland China and Taiwan, based on a 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Until 1987, however, the Nationalist Government ruled Taiwan under a civil war martial law declaration dating to 1948. Beginning in the 1970s, Nationalist authorities gradually began to incorporate the native population into the governing structure beyond the local level. The democratization process expanded rapidly in the 1980s, leading to the then-illegal founding of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan’s first opposition party, in 1986 and the lifting of martial law the following year. Taiwan held legislative elections in 1992, the first in over 40 years, and its first direct presidential election in 1996. In the 2000 presidential elections, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power with the KMT loss to the DPP and afterwards experienced two additional democratic transfers of power in 2008 and 2016. Throughout this period, the island prospered and turned into one of East Asia's economic "Tigers," becoming a major investor in mainland China after 2000 as cross-Strait ties matured. The dominant political issues continue to be economic reform and growth, as well as management of sensitive relations between Taiwan and China.

Environment

Area: 35,980 sq km km2

Climate: tropical; marine; rainy season during southwest monsoon (June to August); persistent and extensive cloudiness all year

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

Ethnic characteristics

Groups: Han Chinese (including Holo, who compose approximately 70% of Taiwan's population, Hakka, and other groups originating in mainland China) more than 95%, indigenous Malayo-Polynesian peoples 2.3%

Languages: Mandarin (official), Min Nan, Hakka dialects, approximately 16 indigenous languages

Religions: Buddhist 35.3%, Taoist 33.2%, Christian 3.9%, folk religion (includes Confucian) approximately 10%, none or unspecified 18.2% (2005 est.)

Government

Capital: Taipei

Government type: semi-presidential republic

Executive branch

Chief of state: President LAI Ching-te (since 20 May 2024)

Head of government: Premier CHO Jung-tai (President of the Executive Yuan) (since 20 May 2024)

Legislative branch

Description: Legislative Yuan - unicameral

Industries

electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals

GDP by sector: Agriculture: n/a, Industry: n/a, Services: n/a

Trade

Export partners: China 20%, USA 17%, Hong Kong 13%, Singapore 9%, Japan 7% (2023)

Export commodities: integrated circuits, machine parts, broadcasting equipment, computers, plastics (2023)

Import partners: China 21%, Japan 13%, USA 11%, S. Korea 9%, Australia 5% (2023)

Import commodities: integrated circuits, crude petroleum, machinery, natural gas, coal (2023)

Geography

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

Defence

Military expenditure: 2024: 2.4% of GDP (2024 est.)