Last European coloniser: Never a European colony · Largest religious group: Other Religions. These are labels that describe the country, not numbers, so they are never compared with other measures. The numbers behind them, such as population shares, are.
Taiwan
Against high income countries, Taiwan ranks 22nd of 58 on governance and 21st of 49 on wellbeing. Each ranking counts only the countries that report that score, so the totals differ and the two ranks can’t be compared directly. Both compare Taiwan with countries of similar wealth. That is the only kind of ranking that tells you something a ranking by income does not already show.
How it has changed
Every measure Taiwan reports, over all the years it has been published. Pick one. Hover or use the arrow keys to read a year. Gaps in a line are years with no data. They are left open, not filled in.
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Scores by area
Each score averages the measures in one area, such as health. Each measure is first put on a common scale and turned so that higher is always better. Zero is the average country in an average year. One point is a typical gap between countries (a standard deviation), so +1 means about one typical gap above average. These are summaries, not measurements. See how the country scores are built and how the topic scores compare with each other.
| Score | Value | Rank, all countries | Rank, similar income | Mostly income? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governance score 2025 | +1.31 | 22 of 179 | 22 of 58 | moderate +0.53 |
| Wellbeing score 2022 | +0.73 | 22 of 110 | 21 of 49 | high +0.80 |
The last column shows how closely each score just tracks national income. The number is its link with GDP per person (the value of everything a country produces, divided by its people), from −1 to +1. A score marked proxy is mostly a measure of how rich the country is. Its rank among all countries says little that GDP per person does not. That is why the rank among similar-income countries sits beside it.
The measures behind them
Every measure reported for Taiwan, grouped by area. Some measures have no agreed better direction, such as population growth, inflation and military spending. They are listed here but left out of every score, since there is no fair way to say which way is better. Some names use technical terms: PPP means adjusted for what money buys in each country, HDI is a United Nations score combining life expectancy, schooling and income, and a Gini indexmeasures how unequally income is shared. Each measure’s own page explains it.
crime
| Conflict deaths | 0 | per 100,000 people | 2025 | higher is worse |
| Armed conflict present | 0 | 1 if any conflict, else 0 | 2025 | higher is worse |
culture
| Religious attendance | 21.7% | % of respondents | 2022 | no agreed direction |
| Religion very important | 15.5% | % of respondents | 2022 | no agreed direction |
| Frequent prayer | 34.8% | % of respondents | 2022 | no agreed direction |
| Confidence in religious institutions | 55.9% | % of respondents | 2022 | no agreed direction |
| Religiously unaffiliated | 23.1% | % of population | 2020 | no agreed direction |
| Christian share | 5.54% | % of population | 2020 | no agreed direction |
| Muslim share | 0.498% | % of population | 2020 | no agreed direction |
| Women in a union | 47.6% | % of women aged 15-49 | 2020 | no agreed direction |
demography
| Median age | 43.5 | years | 2023 | no agreed direction |
| Age at childbearing | 31.9 | years | 2023 | no agreed direction |
economy
| Aid given | 0.047% | % of GNI | 2025 | no agreed direction |
education
| PISA maths | 547 | PISA points | 2022 | higher is better |
| PISA reading | 515 | PISA points | 2022 | higher is better |
| PISA science | 537 | PISA points | 2022 | higher is better |
gender
| Women's political empowerment | 0.903 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
governance
| Corruption Perceptions Index | 67 | index (0-100, higher = cleaner) | 2024 | higher is better |
| Political rights (FH) | 1 | rating (1-7, 1 = most free) | 2025 | higher is worse |
| Civil liberties (FH) | 1 | rating (1-7, 1 = most free) | 2025 | higher is worse |
| Electoral democracy | 0.801 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Liberal democracy | 0.704 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Participatory democracy | 0.652 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Free and fair elections | 0.94 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Regime type | 3 | regime category (0-3) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Political corruption | 0.214 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is worse |
| Freedom of expression | 0.838 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Freedom of association | 0.892 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Political civil liberties | 0.904 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Civil society participation | 0.929 | index (0-1) | 2025 | higher is better |
| Control of corruption | 1.18 | index (approx. -2.5 to 2.5) | 2024 | higher is better |
| Rule of law | 1.29 | index (approx. -2.5 to 2.5) | 2024 | higher is better |
| Government effectiveness | 1.5 | index (approx. -2.5 to 2.5) | 2024 | higher is better |
| Regulatory quality | 1.3 | index (approx. -2.5 to 2.5) | 2024 | higher is better |
| Voice and accountability | 1.02 | index (approx. -2.5 to 2.5) | 2024 | higher is better |
| Political stability | 0.917 | index (approx. -2.5 to 2.5) | 2024 | higher is better |
wellbeing
| Interpersonal trust | 30.8% | % of respondents | 2022 | higher is better |
| Self-reported happiness | 90.7% | % of respondents | 2022 | higher is better |
| Life satisfaction | 6.71 | score (0-10) | 2025 | higher is better |
Values are the most recent in 2010–2025, and different measures can come from different years. The year is shown beside each. Nothing here ranks countries by merit. An area score averages whatever measures its publishers happen to collect, and the choice of what to collect is itself a judgement made by someone else. All countries · How the country data works
Countries to compare with Taiwan
Also in East Asia & Pacific: American Samoa, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hong Kong SAR, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Dem. People's Rep., Korea, Rep., Lao PDR, Macao SAR, China, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Fed. Sts., Mongolia, Myanmar, Naoero, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam.
Also high income, in other regions: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Austria, Bahamas, The, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and more on the full list of countries.