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Demographics of Taiwan
Population pyramid of Taiwan at the end of 2021
Population	23,347,374 (April 2023)
Growth rate	0.04% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	5.8 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Death rate	8.8 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Life expectancy	81.16 years
• male	78.17 years
• female	84.34 years
Fertility rate	0.85 children born/woman (2023 est.)
Infant mortality rate	3.97 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	0.85 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	12.22%
15–64 years	69.72%
65 and over	18.07%
Sex ratio
Total	0.97 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.73 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Taiwanese
Major ethnic	Han Chinese
Language
Official	Mandarin

The population of Taiwan is approximately 23.35 million as of April 2023.^[1]

Immigration of Han Chinese to the Penghu Islands started as early as the 13th century. The main island was inhabited by a diversity of Taiwanese indigenous peoples speaking Austronesian languages until Han settlement began in the early 17th century, around the time of the Ming–Qing transition, when workers were imported from Fujian to the colony of Dutch Formosa in the southwest of Taiwan. According to governmental statistics, in the early 21st century, 95% to 97% of Taiwan's population are Han Chinese, while about 2.3% are Taiwanese of Austronesian ethnicity.^[2][3] Half the population are followers of one or a mixture of 25 recognized religions.

During the 20th century, the population of Taiwan rose more than sevenfold, from about 3 million in 1905 to more than 22 million by 2001. This high growth was caused by a combination of factors, such as very high fertility rates up to the 1960s, and low mortality rates.^[4] In addition, there was a surge in population as the Chinese Civil War ended and the Kuomintang (KMT) forces retreated, bringing an influx of 1.2 million soldiers and civilians to Taiwan in 1948–1949, representing less than 15% of the population at the time (who constitute approximately 10% of the population in 2004^[5]).^[6][3][7] Consequently, the population growth rate after that was very rapid, especially in the late 1940s and 1950s, with an effective annual growth rate as high as 3.68% during 1951–1956.

Fertility rates decreased gradually thereafter; in 1984 the rate reached the replacement level (2.1 children per woman, which is needed to replace the existing population). Fertility rates have continued to decline. In 2010, Taiwan had a population growth of less than 0.2% and a fertility rate of only 0.9, the lowest rate ever recorded in that country. The population of Taiwan peaked at 23.6 million in 2019 and has been continuously decreasing ever since.

Most Taiwanese speak Mandarin. Around 70% of the people also speak Taiwanese Hokkien and 10% speak Hakka. Japanese speakers are becoming rare as the elderly generation who lived under Japanese colonization are dying out. The Formosan languages are endangered as the indigenous peoples have become acculturated under Chinese culture.

Population

According to February 2022 statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the population of Taiwan was 23,319,776, 99.6% of whom live on the island of Taiwan. The remaining 0.4% live on offshore islands (Penghu, Lanyu, Green, Kinmen, and Matsu).

Taiwan is ranked the 57th most populous nation in the world.

Historical

The number of Chinese people living on the island in 1624, prior to Dutch colonial rule, was about 25,000.^[8] During Dutch Formosa rule, between 1624 and 1662, the Dutch began to encourage large-scale Han immigration to the island for labour, mainly from the south of Fujian.

It is estimated that prior to the Kingdom of Tungning (1661), the population of Taiwan was no greater than 100,000 people, and the initial Zheng army with families and retainers that settled in Taiwan is estimated to be 30,000 at minimum.^[9] During Qing rule (1683–1895), the population of Han Chinese in Taiwan grew rapidly from 100,000 to ≈2.5 million, while the aboriginal population was estimated to be at least 200,000 by 1895.^[10] (The plains aboriginal population is estimated to have decreased by 90% over the hundred years from 1800 to 1900.)^[11]

The Japanese Colonial Government performed detailed censuses every five years starting in 1905. Statistics showed a population growth rate of about 1% to 3% per year throughout Japanese rule. In 1905, the population of Taiwan was roughly 3 million; by 1940, the population had grown to 5.87 million, and after the Second World War in 1946 it numbered 6.09 million.^[12]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Population census

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