Economy

Imports
$323 billion (2023). Integrated Circuits ($60.3B), Crude Petroleum ($29.7B), Machinery Having Individual Functions ($18.8B), Petroleum Gas ($13.3B), and Coal Briquettes ($11.6B).
The top origins were China ($67.6B), Japan ($43B), United States ($35.8B), South Korea ($28.2B), and Australia ($17.4B).

In the latest year, Chinese Taipei was the world’s largest importer of Disc Chemicals for Electronics ($3.18B), Railway Passenger Cars ($261M), Halides ($198M), and Other Tin Products ($61M).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 94% have an account with a financial institution
• 53% have a credit card
• 43% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
It is very easy to conduct business (rated 80.9 out of 100), ranked 4th out of 25 East Asia & Pacific countries and is ranked 15th among 190 economies worldwide. (2022, World Bank).

Exports
$457 billion (2023). Integrated Circuits ($214B), Office Machine Parts ($29.8B), Broadcasting Equipment ($27.2B), Computers ($27.1B), and Refined Petroleum ($10.1B).
The top destinations were China ($101B), United States ($85.6B), Hong Kong ($66.1B), Singapore ($47B), and Japan ($33.1B).

In the latest year, Taiwan was the world’s largest exporter of Integrated Circuits ($209B), Copper Foil ($1.74B), Hot-Rolled Stainless Steel Bars ($356M), and Tapioca ($84.5M).

Main local online stores
ruten.com.tw, shopee.tw and taobao.com. Other top retail sites include momoshop.com.tw and books.com.tw

Economic freedom
‘Mostly free’ (80.7 out of 100), ranked 2nd out of 39 in Asia & Pacific countries and ranked 4th out of 186 countries worldwide (2022, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Source: OEC

Source: Statista

Media

Media language
Chinese, English

Information channels
The media environment in Taiwan is among the freest in Asia and is extremely competitive. The main terrestrial TV networks tend to be politically partisan. Multichannel satellite and cable TV are very popular. There are more than 170 radio stations, many of them with specific music formats. Phone-in programmes are particularly popular. There are hundreds of newspapers, all privately-owned. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to exert influence on Taiwanese media, says US-based NGO Freedom House. It adds that key media owners have significant business interests in China or rely on advertising by Chinese companies, “leaving them vulnerable to pressure and prone to self-censorship on topics considered sensitive by Beijing”.

The press

United Daily News – Chinese-language
China Times – Chinese-language daily
The Liberty Times – Chinese-language daily
Taipei Times – English-language daily
Taiwan News – English-language daily

Television

Chinese Television System (CTS)
Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) – commercial
Formosa Television (FTV) – commercial
Public Television Service (PTS) – non-profit public broadcaster

Radio

Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) – national and regional networks
CBS-Radio Taiwan International – national broadcaster; also beams services to mainland China and the rest of the world in various languages and Chinese dialects
International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) – English-language FM station

News agency

Focus Taiwan – English-language service of state-run Central News Agency (CNA)

Internet Data

Internet users
95.3% penetration, 22.1 million

Share of web traffic by device
50.23% mobile phones, 43.25% computers (laptops and desktops), 6.50% tablet devices, others 0.02%

Average speed of mobile Internet connection
95.66 Mbps

Average speed of fixed Internet connection
217.30 Mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 131%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 100%

Most popular web search engines
Google (83.16%), Yahoo! (11.17%), Bing (5.21%), CocCoc (0.17%), Baidu (0.09%), other (0.2%).

Most used social media
Facebook (54.14%), Twitter (18.66%),  Instagram (9.46%), Pinterest (4.89%), YouTube (4.71%), LinkedIn (4.02%), reddit (3.85%), other (0.26%).

Social statistics

Life expectancy
80.4 yrs (2020)

Healthcare expenditure
6.1% of GDP

Corruption perceptions Index
Taiwan scored 67 out of 100, ranked 25 out of 180 countries worldwide.

World Happiness Index
Taiwan ranked 26 out of 146 countries, with a score of 6.512.

Cultural Curiosities

The Taiwanese often have money related conversations, questions about salaries or about the cost of clothes one is wearing are to be answered with honesty regardless of the figures. So do not be scared to discuss figures in a direct way when doing business there.

Many Taiwanese names have a direct meaning, for a foreigner it is a nice way to make small talk and break the ice to ask about it.