Languages:
Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 96.1% (2003)
Government Taiwan
Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form: Taiwan local short form: T'ai-wan local long form: none former: Formosa
Government type:
multiparty democratic regime headed by popularly-elected president
and unicameral legislature
Capital:
Taipei
Administrative divisions:
includes central island of Taiwan plus numerous smaller islands
near central island 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)
: counties: Chang-hua, Chia-i, Hsin-chu, Hua-lien, I-lan, Kao-hsiung
county, Kin-men, Lien-chiang, Miao-li, Nan-t'ou, P'eng-hu,
P'ing-tung, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan, T'ai-pei county, T'ai-tung,
T'ao-yuan, and Yun-lin
: municipalities: Chia-i, Chi-lung, Hsin-chu, T'ai-chung, T'ai-nan
note: Taiwan generally uses Wade-Giles system for romanization;
special municipality of Taipei adopted standard pinyin romanization
for street and place names within city boundaries, other local
authorities have selected a variety of romanization systems
: special municipalities: Kao-hsiung city, T'ai-pei city
National holiday:
Republic Day (Anniversary of the Chinese Revolution), 10 October
(1911)
Constitution:
25 December 1946, amended in 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, and 2000
Legal system:
based on civil law system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction,
with reservations