Demographics of Taiwan

The population of Taiwan is approximately 23.36 million as of April 2025. According to governmental statistics, in the early 21st century, 95% to 97% of Taiwan's population are Han Taiwanese, while about 2.3% are Taiwanese of Austronesian ethnicity. Half the population are followers of one or a mixture of 25 recognized religions.

Immigration of Han Chinese to the Penghu Islands started as early as the 12th century. The main island was inhabited by a diversity of Taiwanese indigenous peoples speaking Austronesian languages until Han settlement began in the early 17th century. Soon after, more Han workers mainly from the Minnan region arrived to work in the colony of Dutch Formosa in the southwest of Taiwan. After the Dutch were defeated, the Kingdom of Tungning maintained a significant population of Han settlers in the tens of thousands until the Qing dynasty took over. Under Qing rule, the Han population in Taiwan increased from about 50,000 in the mid-17th century to 2.5 million by 1893. The total population of Taiwan increased to 6.5 million under Japanese rule by 1945.

During the 20th century, the population of Taiwan rose more than sevenfold, from about 3 million in 1905 to more than 22 million by 2001. This high growth was caused by a combination of factors, such as very high fertility rates up to the 1960s, and low mortality rates. In addition, there was a surge in population as the Chinese Civil War ended and the Kuomintang (KMT) forces retreated, bringing an influx of 1.2 million soldiers and civilians to Taiwan in 1948–1949, representing less than 15% of the population at the time (who constitute approximately 10% of the population in 2004). Consequently, the population growth rate after that was very rapid, especially in the late 1940s and 1950s, with an effective annual growth rate as high as 3.68% during 1951–1956.

Fertility rates decreased gradually thereafter; in 1984 the rate reached the replacement level (2.1 children per woman, which is needed to replace the existing population). Fertility rates have continued to decline. In 2010, Taiwan had a population growth of less than 0.2% and a fertility rate of only 0.9, the lowest rate ever recorded in that country. The population of Taiwan peaked at 23.6 million in 2019 and has been continuously decreasing ever since, raising fears of an aging population. Notably in 2025, the fertility rate hit 0.695, the lowest country-level rate globally.

Most Taiwanese speak Mandarin. Around 70% of the people also speak Taiwanese Hokkien and 10% speak Hakka. Japanese speakers are becoming rare as the elderly generation who lived under Japanese colonization are dying out. The Formosan languages are endangered as the indigenous peoples have become acculturated under Chinese culture.