Taiwan 2001

		People
		Taiwan's Population Distribution According to statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior 內政部, the population density of the ROC on Taiwan stood at 612 persons per square kilometer, making it the second highest in the world after Bangladesh. Taipei City, which covers 272 sq. km, is Taiwan's most crowded urban area with 9,739 persons per square kilometer. Kaohsiung City (154 sq. km) is next, with 9,645 persons per square kilometer; and Taichung City (163 sq. km), the third most populated area, has 5,821 persons per square kilometer. Heavily populated urban areas have grown outside the official limits of major cities, forming large metropolitan areas, which are now home to 68.37 percent of Taiwan's total population. Among the island's metropolitan areas, the Chungli-Taoyuan Greater Metropolitan Area grew the fastest in 1999, with a population increase of 2.51 percent. The Taichung-Changhua Greater Metropolitan Area was second with a 1.91 percent growth rate. The metropolitan area with the highest population remains the Taipei-Keelung Greater Metropolitan Area, with 6.5 million residents and 42.72 percent of the Taiwan's urban population. The Kaohsiung Greater Metropolitan Area is second with 2.71 million residents, and the Taichung-Changhua Greater Metropolitan Area is the third most populous, with 2.05 million people. The earliest census taken in Taiwan recorded the island's population at 3.12 million in 1905. After 40 years, the figure had nearly doubled to 6.02 million. The population further increased to 7.39 million in 1949 due to the influx of migrants from the Chinese mainland. The next year, the natural rate of population increase peaked at 3.84 percent. A baby boom in the postwar years put excessive population pressure on Taiwan's economy, and the ROC government began encouraging family planning. By 1999, the population growth rate had dropped to 0.75 percent. The birth rate rose from 1.24 percent per 100 persons in 1998 to 1.29 percent per 100 persons in 1999, while the death rate rose from 0.56 percent per 100 persons in 1998 to 0.57 percent per 100 persons in 1999. Clearly, the population structure has undergone great changes over the last few decades. As those born during the baby boom and after have grown to maturity, the economically productive 15-to-64 age group increased to 70.13 percent of the total population in 1999. Meanwhile, the ratio of dependents dropped from 64 percent in 1975 to 43 percent in 1999. Longer education, delayed marriages, and comparatively fewer potential mothers between the ages of 20 and 34 have reduced the birth rate. Since 1984, the population replacement rate has remained below one, dropping to 0.7 in 1999. Population Policy The average age in the Taiwan area is rising. According to 1998 figures from the Ministry of the Interior, the average life expectancy in the Taiwan area was 74.83 years, with men living an average of 72.20 years and women, 77.96 years. In 1999, 8.44 percent of the population was over 65 years of age, up from 8.26 in 1998. This puts Taiwan midway between "older" countries like Great Britain (16 percent), France (15 percent), Japan (13 percent), and the United States (13 percent) and "younger neighbors" like the Chinese mainland and Korea (6 percent each) and Thailand and the Philippines (4 percent each). The Taiwan index of aging, calculated by dividing the number of people over 65 years of age by the number under the age of 15, is 39.4 percent. A national population policy and policy guidelines on Taiwan's aging population were revised by the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan in November 1992. Contrary to past family planning programs aimed at curtailing population growth, the ministry now proposes a moderate increase. "Two are just right"--兩個恰恰好 is the new family planning slogan, in contrast to the former slogan, "One is not too few; two are just right" 一個不嫌少,兩個恰恰好. The ROC government's population policy and national family planning program received top marks among developing countries from the US Population Crisis Committee in 1987 and 1992. Gender Imbalance Among the 284,073 births registered in the Taiwan area in 1999, there were 109.47 boys for every 100 baby girls. The global ratio of males to females at birth is about 105:100. The ratio in Taiwan reflects the traditional preference among Asian parents for boys over girls. This preference has led to an imbalance between the numbers of boys and girls, as certain private hospitals and small clinics in Taiwan ignore the ban on using chorionic villus sampling as a means of determining fetus gender and perform abortions for parents who do not want a girl. Many young Taiwan newlyweds plan to have only one child for economic and lifestyle reasons. In 1965, 72 percent of parents wanted two children, but the percentage had decreased to 24 percent by 1991. Tradition favors male descendants, thus, parents who only want one child usually prefer a boy. In 1965, only 6 percent of potential mothers preferred their first child to be a baby boy; but by 1991, some 52 percent preferred boys. Joyful children welcome the new century. According to 1999 figures, among families having more than one child, the male-to-female ratio was 107:100 for the first born, 108:100 for the second child, 118:100 for the third; and 134:100 for the fourth. Some medical professionals have suggested that the situation is a result of the 1985 promulgation of the Genetic Health Law 優生保健法, which allows abortion 24 weeks into pregnancy if the fetus is found to have a congenital defect. The law may have been used by some doctors as a pretext for performing otherwise illegal abortions. However, according to a survey by the Family Planning Institute, the abortion rate in Taiwan increased only slightly after the Genetic Health Law was enacted. Copyright (C) May 2001, Government Information Office.   All rights reserved.   Site design by L.F. Lee Best viewed with Netscape 4.x or IE 5.x (medium font) at 800 x 600 True Color (32 bit) resolution