Each aboriginal group speaks a distinct language that generally is unintelligible to other groups. The aboriginal people had no written language until they made contact with the Dutch in the 17th century. The Hakka have their own language, which has affinities with both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. The Fukien Taiwanese speak Minnan, a form of Southern Min (often called Taiwanese on Taiwan), which comes from southern Fukien province. The mainlanders speak Mandarin Chinese, the official language of China. Many mainlanders may also speak a dialect of the province from which they originally came, although that practice has diminished considerably among the younger generations born on Taiwan. Most aboriginal people speak Mandarin; many speak Taiwanese, and a diminishing number know Japanese. Hoklos also speak Mandarin; older ones speak Japanese. Most Hakka speak Taiwanese and Mandarin, and some speak Japanese.

After World War II the mainland Chinese-run government made Mandarin the official language, and it was used in the schools and in government. With democratization, other languages or dialects became more popular. The Fukien Taiwanese have consistently promoted their language, with some suggesting getting rid of Mandarin—since it is the language of the former minority ruling class. Yet Mandarin has the largest number of speakers of any language in the world, and Taiwan increasingly depends on trade and commercial ties with China. Hence the idea of replacing Mandarin with Taiwanese has not gotten too far, and Taiwan seems likely to remain multilingual.

Religions

The aboriginal peoples practice animism, nature worship, and other indigenous religious rites. The Chinese brought Buddhism, Daoism (Taoism), and Confucianism to Taiwan. The Dutch introduced Protestant Christianity and the Spanish Roman Catholicism. The Japanese brought Shinto. In 1949 many religious groups and religious leaders—especially Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist—fled to Taiwan from China.

The principal religions of Taiwan according to the number of adherents are: Buddhism, Daoism (Taoism), Christianity, and Yiguan Dao (I-Kuan Tao; “Way of Unity”). Buddhists and Daoists are by far the largest groups. Many of Taiwan’s residents are Confucians, though Confucianism is not strictly a religion but rather an ethical system that applies especially to politics and a philosophical system that is particularly Chinese. Religious affiliation is not exclusivist in Taiwan, and many people adhere to more than one faith.

Other religions operate freely in Taiwan, and Taiwan is said to be one of the most religiously tolerant places in the world. Certainly few people express concern about or prejudice against others because of their religion. Before Chen Shui-bian became president in 2000, all of Taiwan’s presidents at least nominally professed to be Christian, even though the adherents of Christianity constitute only a small minority of the population of Taiwan.

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Settlement patterns

Aboriginal peoples inhabited all of Taiwan and its adjacent islands at the time that people from China began arriving. Those Chinese, both Hakka and Fukien Taiwanese, initially settled mainly on the island’s west coast and over time gradually moved inland. Many of the lowland aboriginal people were either assimilated or moved into the mountainous areas of the island. The mainland Chinese took up residence primarily on the northern part of the island in and around Taipei.

Taiwan’s population was mainly rural until the post-World War II period, but by the early 1950s about half of its people lived in cities of more than 50,000. The proportion of urban dwellers continued to increase rapidly and by 1980 had risen to close to four-fifths of the total population—higher than the urbanization rate in Japan or in the United States. More recently, however, the proportion of people living in the largest cities declined somewhat, as more people moved to suburban areas. Taiwan has six cities with more than a million inhabitants, topped by New Taipei City (Hsin-pei shi or Xinbei shi), a special municipality created in 2010 from the former Taipei county surrounding Taipei city.

Demography

Taiwan’s first census was undertaken in 1905 and recorded a population of about three million on the island. By the end of World War II that number had doubled. After the war, especially in 1949, there was a large influx of people from China. In addition, the birth rate at that time was high and remained so until the late 1950s, but it declined precipitously thereafter. In the 2010s, Taiwan was approaching zero population growth.

The ethnic balance of the population did not change much after 1949, although the mainland Chinese and aboriginal populations grew more slowly than did those of the two Taiwanese groups. However, the demographic makeup of the island has changed noticeably since the late 20th century, with the birth rate falling markedly and with significant numbers of foreigners taking up residence in Taiwan through marriage to its citizens—especially around the turn of the 21st century. An aging population also has become an issue, because of a declining death rate and longer life expectancy. At times the sex ratio of Taiwan’s population has been a matter of concern, and after World War II it was skewed toward more males than females. Since 2000, however, the ratio between the sexes generally has been near parity, with higher female life expectancies and a greater number of female immigrants.