Flag description:
red with a dark blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner
bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays
Economy Taiwan
Economy - overview:
Taiwan has a dynamic capitalist economy with gradually decreasing
guidance of investment and foreign trade by government authorities.
In keeping with this trend, some large, government-owned banks and
industrial firms are being privatized. Exports have provided the
primary impetus for industrialization. The trade surplus is
substantial, and foreign reserves are the world's third largest.
Agriculture contributes less than 2% to GDP, down from 32% in 1952.
Taiwan is a major investor throughout Southeast Asia. China has
overtaken the US to become Taiwan's largest export market and, in
2005, Taiwan's third-largest source of imports after Japan and the
US. Taiwan has benefited from cross-Strait economic integration and
a sharp increase in world demand to achieve substantial growth in
its export sector and a seven-year-high real GDP growth of 6.1% in
2004. However, excess inventory, higher international oil prices,
and rising interest rates dampened consumption in developed markets,
and GDP growth dropped to 3.8% in 2005. The service sector, which
accounts for 69% of Taiwan's GDP, has continued to expand, while
unemployment and inflation rates have declined.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$630 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$323.4 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$27,500 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 1.8% industry: 25.9% services: 72.3% (2005 est.)
Labor force: 10.6 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 6% industry: 35.8% services: 58.2% (2005 est.)