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General Details |
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| Chief of the state |
Mr. Chen Shui-bian |
| Prime Minister |
Mr. Chang Chun-hsiung |
| Capital |
Taipei |
| Area |
total: 35,980 sq km
land: 32,260 sq km
water: 3,720 sq km |
| 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 |
| Coastline: |
1,448 km |
| Maritime claims |
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm |
| Climate |
Tropical; marine; rainy season
during southwest monsoon (June to August); cloudiness is
persistent and extensive all year |
| Natural
Resources |
Small deposits of coal, natural
gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos |
| Natural hazards |
Earthquakes and typhoons |
| Environment-international
agreements |
party to: none of the selected
agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Population |
22,113,250 (Approx.) |
| Age structure |
0-14 years: 22% (male 2,515,398;
female 2,338,506)
15-64 years: 70% (male 7,825,953; female 7,574,836)
65 years and over: 8% (male 989,040; female 869,517) (Approx.) |
| Population growth rate |
0.93% (Approx7.) |
| Birth rate |
14.63 births/1,000 population
(Approx.) |
| Death rate |
5.32 deaths/1,000 population
(Approx.) |
| Net migration rate |
0.02 migrant(s)/1,000 population
(Approx.) |
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| Sex ratio |
at birth: 1.08 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.08 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.14 male(s)/female
total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (Approx.) |
| Life expectancy at birth |
total population: 77.49 years
male: 74.38 years
female: 80.85 years (Approx.) |
| Religions |
Mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist
93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5% |
| Legislative Body |
Unicameral Legislative Yuan |
| Languages |
Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese
(Min), Hakka
dialects  |
| Literacy |
definition: age 15 and over can read and
write
total population: 94% (Approx.)
male: 93% (Approx.) female: 79% (1980 est.) |
| Currency |
1 New Taiwan dollar (NT$) = 100 cents |
| Legal System |
Based on civil law system; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
| Economy Overview |
Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy
with gradually decreasing guidance of investment and foreign trade by
government authorities and partial government ownership of some large
banks and industrial firms. Real growth in GDP has averaged about 8.5% a
year during the past three decades. Export growth has been even faster
and has provided the impetus for industrialization. Inflation and
unemployment are low, and foreign reserves are the world's third largest.
Agriculture contributes less than 3% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952.
Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being moved off-shore
and 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 to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and illegal. Because of
its conservative financial approach and its entrepreneurial strengths,
Taiwan suffered little compared with many of its neighbors from "the
Asian flu" in 1998. |
| GDP: Purchasing Power Parity |
$362 billion (Approx.) |
| GDP - real growth rate |
&4.8% (1998 est.) |
| GDP - per capita |
$16,500 (1998 est.) |
| GDP - Composition by sector |
agriculture: 2.7%
industry: 35.3%
services: 62% (Approx.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) |
2.1% (1998) |
| Industries |
Electronics, textiles, chemicals, clothing,
food processing, plywood, sugar milling, cement, shipbuilding, petroleum
refining |
| Industrial production growth rate |
7% (1997) |
| Agriculture- products |
Rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, vegetables,
fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish |
| Exports |
$122.1 billion (f.o.b., 1997) |
| Exports-commodities |
Machinery and electrical equipment 21.7%,
electronic products 14.8%, information/communications 11.8%, textile
products 11.6% (1997) |
| Exports-partners |
US 24.2%, Hong Kong 23.5%, Europe 15.1%,
Japan 9.6% (1997) |
| Imports |
$114.4 billion (c.i.f., 1997) |
| Imports-commodities |
Machinery and electrical equipment 16.5%,
electronic products 16.3%, chemicals 10.0%, precision instrument 5.6%
(1997) |
| Imports-partners |
Japan 25.4%, US 20.3%, Europe 18.9%, Hong
Kong 1.7% (1997) |
| Communication |
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| Telephones |
11.526 million (1998 est.) |
| Telephone system |
domestic: extensive microwave radio relay
trunk system on east and west coasts international: satellite earth
stations-2 Intelsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean); submarine
cables to Japan (Okinawa), Philippines, Guam, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Australia, Middle East, and Western Europe |
| Transportation |
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| Railways |
total: 4,600 km (519 km electrified);
note-1,108 km belongs to the Taiwan Railway Administration and the
remaining 3,492 km is dedicated to industrial use
narrow gauge: 4,600 km 1.067-m |
| Highways |
total: 19,634 km
paved: 17,171 km (including 548 km of expressways)
unpaved: 2,463 km (Approx.) |
| Pipelines |
Petroleum products 615 km; natural gas 97
km |
| Ports and harbors |
Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung,
Su-ao, T'ai-chung |
| Taxes |
Taxes |
| International Membership |
APEC, AsDB, BCIE, ICC, IOC, WCL, WTrO
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General Section
