Taiwan
Taiwan is a country in Eastern Asia, covered by the Atlas as part of East Asia. It is home to about 23.6 m people. Its political system is classified as liberal democracy.
- Political regime
- Liberal democracy
- All countries · 2025
V-Dem (Regimes of the World), via Our World in Data
Disputed territory. Taiwan governs itself. Since resolution 2758 the UN has not treated it as a separate state and recognises the government in Beijing as the representative of China. The Atlas maps it separately because its society and its data differ from mainland China. Basis: UN General Assembly resolution 2758 (1971); this is a deliberate departure from UN practice.
Regional profile
East Asia
Taiwan is part of East Asia. Our editors write about the region as a whole — its story, topics and sources below cover all its countries.
View the whole region →The workshop of the global economy and the arena where the century's central rivalry plays out. East Asia has the world's densest manufacturing networks, its most advanced chip industry and its steepest demographic decline. Taiwan, the Korean peninsula and the East China Sea keep military risk permanently on the agenda.
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