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Population in Taiwan |
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| Taiwan's population numbered over 22.6
million, with a birth rate of 11.25 and death rate of 6.19 per 1000
people. 50 years ago over 90% of the Island's people lived in farming
villages, but today, with farmers only accounting for 7.4% of total work
force, most people live in or near cities. Taipei City is the most crowded
urban area in Taiwan, with 9730 persons per sq km, followed by Kaohsiung
City with 9721 per sq km. The poplulation density of Taiwan is 618 per sq
km.
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Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human habitation in Taiwan that dates back 12,000 to 15,000 years, and suggests that Taiwan's earliest inhabitants came from at least two places: southern China and Austronesia. In general, early settlers from southern China settled in northern and central Taiwan, while Australoid settlements were mainly in southern Taiwan and along the eastern coast. The relationship between these early inhabitants and today's indigenous Austronesian peoples is not clear. Before the arrival of Han people from mainland China, several dozen groups of Austronesian peoples, who can trace their histories back at least one to two thousand years, represented all the island's inhabitants; now they make up less than 2 percent of Taiwan's population.
In the 16th century, Han people from China's coastal provinces of Fujian
and Guangdong began immigrating to Taiwan in large numbers to build a new home away from war and famine. This group of early Han immigrants consisted mainly of Southern Fujianese and Hakka. Today, these two groups constitute about 85 percent of the population, with the Fujianese outnumbering the Hakka by a ratio of approximately three to one. When the Kuomintang
(KMT) government relocated to Taipei in 1949, it brought a new influx of Han immigrants to Taiwan. Together, these various Han groups form the largest ethnic group in Taiwan, making up roughly 98 percent of the population. Taiwan's population also consists of almost 60 other non-Han minorities.
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