Taiwan
population: Official estimate (31 Jun 2026) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 6 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography6 metros
Taiwan metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🏙️ 6 tracked metros
🗂️ Administrative subdivisions
22 entries listed under Taiwan across 3 types. Select any to see its metros and footprint.
County (Xian)s (13)
Special Municipalities (6)
Provincial Cities (3)
📋 At a glance
- Official languages
- Tsou, Seediq, Kanakanavu, Standard Taiwanese Mandarin, Puyuma +17 more
- Currency
- New Taiwan dollar (TWD)
- Government
- Constitutional republic
- Legislature
- Legislative Yuan
- Constitution
- 1947, null amendment events since
- Demonym
- taiwanese
- Time zones
- Taiwan time, UTC+08:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +886
- Internet TLD
- .tw
- ISO 3166
- TW
- Established
- 1912
- Highest point
- Yushan Main Peak (3,952 m (12,966 ft))
- National anthem
- National Anthem of the Republic of China
Facts via Wikidata.
🗣️ Languages of Taiwan
Mandarin Chinese first; 3 languages share the country; 3 official.
| Language | Share | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin Chinese | 95% | Official | CLDR, country |
| Min Nan Chinese | 57% | Official | CLDR, country |
| Hakka Chinese | 11% | Official | CLDR, country |
| Seediq | 0% | None | CLDR, country |
Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.
- Effective languages
- 1.0
- Official-language gap
- 5%
- Mandarin Chinese is spoken by 95%
📰 In the news1 story
Semafor · 22 Sept 2026
Asia's AI boom sparks 'Dutch disease' fearsHSBC and South Korea's central bank warn that a chip-driven boom can distort other export sectors, though Taiwanese officials reject the comparison.
💹 Economy and development
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
Alliances & Organisations1 full membership
Regional
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History21 leaders · click to expand
is an editorial flag: associated with atrocities against civilians, systemic subversion of the constitutional order, or a criminal conviction (political persecutions and annulled convictions excluded). It is a curated list, not a measurement, so a name without one has not been cleared of anything. Hover a badge for the reason on file.
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Republic of China
Elections
Presidential elections since 1911 →
The ROC's whole lineage, with the National Assembly rituals labelled and democracy since 1996.
Constitution
Written 1947 →
null amendment events since, the last in 2005. Compare it with every other country.
Spectrum →
Executive 4.3 (expert)
Legislature not classified · semi presidential
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
⚔️ Wars and conflicts2 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second Taiwan Strait Crisis | 1958 | China | 1,054+ |
| First Taiwan Strait Crisis | 1954–1955 | China | 914–1,054 |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Taiwan is past its peak, which is less unusual than it sounds: the two lines here can point in opposite directions, and for most of Europe and East Asia they now both point down.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for Taiwan: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
💰 Billionaires66 · $302.6B combined · click to expand
Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.
🏆 National Teams
Taiwan on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.