Taiwan--Introduction

Taiwan is not a large island. Its land area is 13,969 square mile only, but has a large population, 22.7 million. Compare Taiwan with China and the United States in the following table:

	Taiwan	China	United States
Land Area (mi² )	13,969	3,696,521	3,717,796
Population 2004 (Millions)	22.7	1,306.0	290.9
Arithmetic Population Density	1,627	353	78
Physiological Population Density	6,764	3,524	412
Birth Rate	11	13	15
Death Rate	6	6	9
Natural Increase%	0.5	0.7	0.6
Infant Mortality Per 1000 (births)	6	31	7
Life Expectancy Male\ Female (years)	73 \ 78	70 \ 73	74 \ 80
Percent Urban Population	77	38	75
Per Capita GNP ($US)	$15,100	$3,920	$34,100

※Data obtain from “Geography Realms, Regions, and Concepts” (de Blij & Muller 34, 37)

The land area of the United States is about 266 times the land area of Taiwan, but the population in the United States is only about 12.8 times the population in Taiwan in 2004.

Although the population of Taiwan is already concentrated when we look at the number of arithmetic population density (1,627), the natural landscapes make it even more concentrated. About 1/5 of the land in Taiwan are mountains, which dominate the eastern half of the island; thus most of the population concentrated in the western and northern coasts (see Figure B1 ←).

Figure B1 Taiwan Population (de Blij 482)

The national capital city of Taiwan is Taipei (see Picture B1 and B3), which contains the highest population throughout the whole country. The population is also concentrated in the area around Taipei, which is called Big Taipei Area. This area is interconnected to each other by convenient transportation systems (see Picture B2 ).


Picture B1 Taipei City (施添福[2] 27)	Picture B2 MRT System (李建中攝)