Business Consulting - Asia: Taiwan
Overview (Taken from the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia)
Country Name:
Long - Republic of China
Short - Taiwan
Population:
22,858,872 (July 2007 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 17.8% (male 2,117,051/female 1,954,709)
15-64 years: 72% (male 8,306,351/female 8,141,268)
65 years and over: 10.2% (male 1,150,001/female 1,189,492) (2007 est.)
Median Age:
total: 35.5 years
male: 35 years
female: 36 years (2007 est.)
Population Growth Rate:
0.304% (2007 est.)
Birth Rate:
8.97 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Religions:
mixture of Buddhist and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%
Languages:
Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 96.1%
male: NA%
female: NA% (2003)
Government Type:
Multiparty democracy
Capital City:
Taipei
Administrative Divisions:
includes main island of Taiwan plus smaller islands nearby and off coast of China's Fujian Province; Taiwan is divided into 18 counties (hsien, singular and plural), 5 municipalities (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special municipalities (chuan-shih, singular and plural)
note: Taiwan uses a variety of romanization systems; while the Wade-Giles system still dominates, city of Taipei has adopted standard Pinyin romanization for street and place names within its boundaries; other local authorities use different romanization systems; names for administrative divisions that follow are in Wade-Giles system with Pinyin equivalents in parentheses
counties: Chang-hua (Changhua), Chia-i (Chiayi) [county], Hsin-chu (Hsinchu), Hua-lien (Hualien), I-lan (Yilan), Kao-hsiung (Kaohsiung) [county], Kin-men (Kinmen), Lien-chiang (Lienchiang, also Matsu), Miao-li (Miaoli), Nan-t'ou (Nantou), P'eng-hu (Penghu), P'ing-tung (Pingtung), T'ai-chung (Taichung), T'ai-nan (Tainan), T'ai-pei (Taipei) [county], T'ai-tung (Taitung), T'ao-yuan (Taoyuan), and Yun-lin (Yunlin)
municipalities: Chia-i (Chiayi) [city], Chi-lung (Keelung), Hsin-chu (Hsinchu), T'ai-chung (Taichung), T'ai-nan (Tainan)
special municipalities: Kao-hsiung (Kaohsiung) [city], T'ai-pei (Taipei) [city]
Traditional holidays:
* Lunar Calendar Month 1 Day 1 - Chinese Lunar New Year
* Lunar Calendar Month 1 Day 15 - Lantern Festival
* April 4/April 5 - Qing Ming Jie
* Lunar Calendar Month 5 Day 5 - Dragon Boat
* Lunar Calendar Month 7 Day 7 - Qi Xi
* Lunar Calendar Month 7 Day 15 - Ghost Festival
* Lunar Calendar Month 8 Day 15 - Mid-Autumn Festival
* Lunar Calendar Month 9 Day 9 - Double Ninth Festival
Holidays in Taiwan:
* January 1 - New Year's Day Holiday
* January 3 - Bank Holiday
* January 31 - Chinese New Year's Eve
* February 1-February 3 - Chinese
New Year's Holiday
* February 28 - Peace Memorial Day
* April 5 - Tomb Sweeping Day
* July 1 - Bank Holiday
* October 10 - Double Tenth Day
* October 25 - Retrosession Day
* December 25 - Constitution Day
Labor Force:
10.46 million (2006 est.)
Labor Force - by occupation:
agriculture: 5.5%
industry: 36%
services: 58.5% (2005 est.)
Unemployment Rate:
3.9% (2006 est.)
Telephone Lines:
13.615 million (2005)
Cellular Phones:
22.17 million (2005)
Internet Country Code:
.tw
Internet Users:
13.21 million (2005)
Airports:
42 (2006)
Railways:
total: 2,497 km
narrow gauge: 1,097 km 1.067-m gauge (685 km electrified)
note: 1,400 km .762-m gauge (belonging to the Taiwan Sugar Corporation and to the Taiwan Forestry Bureau) used to carry products and limited numbers of passengers (2005)
Roadways:
total: 37,299 km
paved: 35,621 km (includes 789 km of expressways)
unpaved: 1,678 km (2002)
Waterways:
N/A
Ports and Terminals:
Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung, Su-ao, T'ai-chung
General Information
CIA World Factbook - Taiwan
Wikipedia - Taiwan
Economics
Politics
Taiwan Tries New Name in Application for UN Membership - July 20, 2007
Language
The leading languages of the global economy - July 20, 2007
Newspapers
Apple Daily - Chinese
China Post-English
China Times-Chinese
Sina-Chinese
Sina-English
Taipei Times-English
United Daily News-Chinese
