Taiwan (Republic of China)

http://www.humantruth.info/taiwan.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2013

Taiwan Republic of China
Status	Proto Independent State
Social and Moral Index	The Best (#1)
Capital	Taipei
Land Area
Location	Asia
Groupings	Small Islands
Population
GNI
ISO3166-1 Codes	TW, TWN, 158₁
Internet Domain	.tw₂
Currency	Dollar (TWD)₃
Telephone	+886₄

1. Overview

#china #japan #taiwan

In all practical respects, Taiwan is an independent nation-state. But China claims that Taiwan is still part of China and has the aim of governing it again in the future.

“In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist control after World War II. Following the Communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Beginning in the 1950s, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the local population within the governing structure. This process expanded rapidly in the 1980s. In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. Throughout this period, the island prospered and became one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China - specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status - as well as domestic political and economic reform.”
CIA's The World Factbook (2013)₅

“With its all-round adventure landscape, heritage-rich capital, diverse folk traditions and feted night market scene, Taiwan offers a continent-sized travel list for one green island. Famed for centuries as Ilha Formosa (Beautiful Isle), in Taiwan you can criss-cross mountains on colonial-era hiking trails, cycle a lone highway with the blue Pacific on one side and green volcanic arcs on the other or climb to the summit of Yushan, Taiwan´s 3952m alpine roof.
To fuel all of this adventure, Taiwan offers the gamut of Chinese cuisines, as well as the best Japanese outside Tokyo, and a full-house of local specialities from Hakka stir-fries and Taipei beef noodles to aboriginal-style barbecued wild boar.
Taiwan will feed your soul, too: the island is heir to the entire Chinese tradition of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and that amorphous collection of deities and demons worshipped as folk faith. But over the centuries the people have blended their way to a unique and tolerant religious culture. In doing so, the Taiwanese have created Asia´s most vibrant democracy, and liberal society, with a raucous free press, gender equality and respect for human rights and increasingly animal rights as well.”
"The World" by Lonely Planet (2014)₆

2. Taiwan National and Social Development

#human_development

Social & Moral Development Index₇_,₈
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank₇_,₈
1	Taiwan	28.6
2	Norway	29.4
3	Denmark	31.2
4	Sweden	32.2
5	Finland	32.6
6	Netherlands	33.8
7	Germany	35.4
8	Austria	36.3
9	New Zealand	36.4
10	Canada	37.3
11	Switzerland	37.7
12	Iceland	39.1
	Asia Avg	87.1
	World Avg	86.1
q=195.

The Social and Moral Development Index concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, public health, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism, and on some technological issues. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: Which are the Best Countries in the World? The Social and Moral Development Index.

3. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance

#equality #freedom #gender_equality #human_rights #morals #politics #prejudice #Taiwan #tolerance

Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance (2020)₉_,₁₀
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank₉_,₁₀
1	Sweden	9.2
2	Norway	14.7
3	Denmark	14.7
4	Netherlands	15.8
5	New Zealand	17.5
	...
15	Belgium	26.1
16	Uruguay	26.7
17	UK	26.8
18	Taiwan	28.2
19	Spain	28.3
20	Slovenia	33.3
	Asia Avg	99.8
	World Avg	87.7
q=199.

Taiwan performs very well in ensuring human rights and freedom compared to most other countries. Taiwan performs the best in freethought₁₁. It does better than average in terms of supporting personal, civil & economic freedoms₁₂ (one of the lowest in Asia), supporting press freedom₁₃ (amongst the lowest in Asia) and in LGBT equality₁₄. In 2019, Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage₁₅.

For tables, charts and commentary, see:

Human Rights and Freedom in Taiwan

4. Taiwan's Modernity and Learning

#education #english #intelligence #it_security #maths #modernity #research #science #technology #the_internet

Compared to Asia (2020)₁₀
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank₁₀
1	Taiwan	10.0
2	Japan	21.9
3	S. Korea	24.0
4	Singapore	27.9
5	Israel	32.2
6	Hong Kong	32.6
7	Russia	40.6
8	Turkey	50.1
9	Malaysia	50.2
10	Macau	50.8
11	Cyprus	54.0
12	UAE	56.0
13	Saudi Arabia	60.4
	Asia Avg	79.0
q=51.

Modernity and Learning (2020)₁₀
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank₁₀
1	Finland	8.4
2	Taiwan	10.0
3	Switzerland	15.1
4	Estonia	15.8
5	Denmark	16.0
6	Belgium	16.1
7	Czechia	16.7
8	New Zealand	17.6
9	Sweden	18.6
10	Germany	18.6
11	Australia	19.2
12	Iceland	19.6
13	Austria	19.6
	World Avg	83.2
q=205.

Modernity and Education:

Research and Development (2016)
Pos.		Higher is better % RDP PPP
1	S. Korea	4.29₁₆
2	Israel	4.11₁₆
3	Japan	3.58₁₆
4	Finland	3.17₁₆
5	Sweden	3.16₁₆
6	Denmark	3.05₁₆
7	Taiwan	3.01₁₆
8	Austria	3.00₁₇
9	Switzerland	2.96₁₈
10	Germany	2.84₁₆
11	USA	2.74₁₉
12	Belgium	2.46₁₆
	Asia Avg	0.75
	World Avg	0.84
q=126.

Maths, Science & Reading (2015)₂₀
Pos.		Higher is better Score₂₀
1	Singapore	1655
2	Hong Kong	1598
3	Japan	1586
4	Macau	1582
5	Estonia	1573
6	Taiwan	1571
7	Canada	1571
8	Finland	1568
9	S. Korea	1557
10	China	1543₂₁
11	Ireland	1528
12	Slovenia	1528
	Asia Avg	1398
	World Avg	1389
q=70.

IQ (2006)₂₂
Pos.		Higher is better₂₂
1	Hong Kong	108
2	Singapore	108
3	S. Korea	106
4	Japan	105
5	Taiwan	105
6	China	105
7	Italy	102
8	Iceland	101
9	Switzerland	101
10	Mongolia	101
11	Netherlands	100
12	Norway	100
	Asia Avg	90.4
	World Avg	85.6
q=138.

Technology and Information:

IT Security (2013)₂₃
Pos.		Lower is better₂₃
1	Ireland	0.11
2	Luxembourg	0.11
3	Belize	0.11
4	Hong Kong	0.12
5	Mexico	0.16
	...
14	Peru	0.30
15	Latvia	0.33
16	Pakistan	0.38
17	Taiwan	0.44
18	Sweden	0.44
19	Romania	0.52
	Asia Avg	1.08
	World Avg	0.98
q=81.

5. National Culture

#charity #corruption #happiness #morals #politics

Taiwan has a good long-term record on keeping corruption low, and has spent the last ten years making things even better.

World Giving Index (2013-2021)₂₄
Pos.		Lower is better₂₄
1	Myanmar (Burma)	2.7
2	New Zealand	4.0
3	USA	4.7
4	Australia	4.9
5	Indonesia	9.0
	...
63	Tajikistan	50.7
64	Panama	52.5
65	Kyrgyzstan	54.9
66	Taiwan	55.3
67	Honduras	55.5
68	Belgium	56.6
	Asia Avg	62.5
	World Avg	67.9
q=160.

Corruption (2022)₂₅
Pos.		Higher is better Points₂₅
1	Denmark	90.0
2	Finland	87.0
3	New Zealand	87.0
4	Norway	84.0
5	Singapore	83.0
	...
22	Austria	71.0
23	Seychelles	70.0
24	USA	69.0
25	Taiwan	68.0
26	Bhutan	68.0
27	UAE	67.0
	Asia Avg	39.98
	World Avg	42.98
q=180.

Happiness (2018)₂₆
Pos.		Higher is better₂₆
1	Finland	7.6
2	Norway	7.6
3	Denmark	7.6
4	Iceland	7.5
5	Switzerland	7.5
	...
23	France	6.5
24	Mexico	6.5
25	Chile	6.5
26	Taiwan	6.4
27	Panama	6.4
28	Brazil	6.4
	Asia Avg	5.29
	World Avg	5.38
q=156.

6. Peace Versus Instability

#extremism #human_development #peace #politics #religious_violence #terrorism

Global Peace Index (2021)₂₇
Pos.		Lower is better₂₇
1	Iceland	1.10
2	New Zealand	1.25
3	Denmark	1.26
4	Portugal	1.27
5	Slovenia	1.32
	...
31	Spain	1.62
32	Italy	1.65
33	UK	1.66
34	Taiwan	1.66
35	Latvia	1.69
36	Kuwait	1.69
	Asia Avg	2.22
	World Avg	2.08
q=163.

Impact of Terrorism (2019)₂₈
Pos.		Lower is better Score₂₈
1	Togo	0.00
2	Mongolia	0.00
3	Swaziland	0.00
4	Equatorial Guinea	0.00
5	Cambodia	0.00
	...
52	Honduras	0.99
53	Vietnam	1.00
54	Montenegro	1.00
55	Taiwan	1.01
56	Laos	1.03
57	Armenia	1.17
	Asia Avg	3.60
	World Avg	2.78
q=150.

7. The Natural Environment

#climate_change #the_environment

Environmental Performance (2018)₂₉
Pos.		Higher is better₂₉
1	Switzerland	87.4
2	France	84.0
3	Denmark	81.6
4	Malta	80.9
5	Sweden	80.5
	...
20	Japan	74.7
21	Australia	74.1
22	Greece	73.6
23	Taiwan	72.8
24	Cyprus	72.6
25	Canada	72.2
	Asia Avg	54.5
	World Avg	56.4
q=180.

8. Religion and Beliefs

#belief #buddhism #christianity #god #hinduism #islam #judaism #religion #Taiwan

Disbelief In God (2007)₃₀
Pos.		Higher is better %₃₀
1	Vietnam	81
2	Japan	65
3	Sweden	64
4	Czechia	61
5	Estonia	49
	...
18	Finland	28
19	Russia	27
20	Australia	25
21	Taiwan	24
22	New Zealand	22
23	Canada	22
	World Avg	9.9
q=137.

Data from the Pew Forum, a professional polling outfit, states that in 2010 the religious makeup of this country was as follows in the table below₃₁:

Christian	5.5%
Muslim	0.1%
Hindu	0.1%
Buddhist	21.3%
Folk Religion	44.2%
Jewish	0.1%
Unaffiliated	12.7%

The CIA World Factbook has slightly different data, and states: mixture of Buddhist and Taoist 93%, Christian 4.5%, other 2.5%₃₂.

Freedom of Religion and Belief:

Taiwan has enjoyed an increase in religious liberty since 1989. In that year the Law on Civic Organizations "allowed all religions to exist and removed multiple prohibitions". At the start of this period, in 1990, there were 83 religious groups in Taiwan and this surged to 1062 in the year 2004 "and the total number of temples and churches more than doubled"₃₃.

Links:

There isn't much information in the database for Taiwan, most likely because it is either a part of another country (i.e., a territory or posession) and therefore most international statistics are counted for the country as a whole, or, this is such an exotic place that little data exists about it.