TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Although men currently account for 50.02 percent of the population, women will outnumber men by year-end, according to statistics released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
As of last month, the ministry registered a population of more than 23.34 million, nearly 70 percent of which is concentrated in the five special municipalities and Taoyuan County.
According to official data, New Taipei has the largest amount of registered citizens at over 3.94 million, followed by Kaohiung's 2.77 million, Taichung's 2.69 million, whereas Taipei and Taoyuan County have 2.68 million and 2.03 million, respectively.
All of these regions have populations of over 2 million, and if including Tainan's population, 68.63 percent of the nation's citizens are concentrated in these six places.
Taoyuan is slated for a special municipality upgrade in 2014.
In terms of demographics, men account for 50.02 percent of the population, with 11.68 million, while the number of women stands at 11.66 million.
Taiwan's current sex ratio is 100.09, which is the number of men compared to 100 women, but the figure has been decreasing rapidly, according to the MOI.
The ministry said that the decreasing ratio is mainly due to the difference in mortality rates between elderly men and women, as well as the influx of mainland Chinese and foreign spouses, estimating that by year-end, the sex ratio will descend below 100, meaning that there will be more women than men.
According to the MOI, Kinmen and Matsu saw the largest percentages of population increase, which in Matsu's case was mainly due to the passage of a gambling referendum, whereas Kinmen's increase was tied to the county's relatively greater social benefits as compared to other regions.2013/08/18, By Adam Tyrsett Kuo
Source: The China Post
