Ethnic groups: Taiwanese (including Hakka) 84%, mainland Chinese
14%, aborigine 2%
Religions: mixture of Buddhist, Confucian, 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: 94% (1998 est.)
male: 93% (1980 est.)
female: 79% (1980 est.)
Government
Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form: Taiwan local long form: none local short form: T'ai-wan
Data code: TW
Government type: multiparty democratic regime headed by popularly elected president
Capital: Taipei
Administrative divisions: since in the past the authorities
claimed to be the government of all China, the central
administrative divisions include the provinces of Fu-chien (some 20
offshore islands of Fujian Province including Quemoy and Matsu) and
Taiwan (the island of Taiwan and the Pescadores islands); note—the
more commonly referenced administrative divisions are those of
Taiwan Province—16 counties (hsien, singular and plural), 5
municipalities* (shih, singular and plural), and 2 special
municipalities** (chuan-shih, singular and plural); Chang-hua,
Chia-i, Chia-i*, Chi-lung*, Hsin-chu, Hsin-chu*, Hua-lien, I-lan,
Kao-hsiung, Kao-hsiung**, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu, P'ing-tung,
T'ai-chung, T'ai-chung*, T'ai-nan, T'ai-nan*, T'ai-pei, T'ai-pei**,
T'ai-tung, T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin; the provincial capital is at
Chung-hsing-hsin-ts'un
note: Taiwan uses the Wade-Giles system for romanization