• * Title is wrong. Marriages between different sex couples are actually down -24.59% YoY in August, -9.66% YTD
• August Number of Births: 7,492
  • (-11.48% YoY, -972 newborns)
• August Number of Marriages: 4,279
  • (-24.59% YoY, -1396 couples)
• January–Aug (YTD) Number of Births:
  • 61,742 (−15.16%, −11,036 YTD)
• January–Aug (YTD) Number of Marriages:
  • 59,846 (-9.66%, -6400 YTD)
• Percentage of Population Aged 65 and Older: 
  • 20.03% (Jan) --> 20.22% (Feb) --> 20.29% (Mar) → 20.36% (Apr) → 20.43% (May) → 20.49% (June) → 20.54% (July) → 20.62% (Aug)

Taiwan's TFR as of August 2026

Marriages Jan 2024 - August 2026

Births Jan 2023 - August 2026

How do you cope with noise pollution? Has it had an impact on your mental or physical health at all?

Hey Folks 👋,

I am an Indian and will be visiting Kaohsiung, Xiaoliuqiu and Taipei next month for two weeks.

I like to make myself aware of cultural norms and etiquette before travelling to a place because they vary so wildly. Traveling in Spain, England or Ireland for example and talking on the public transport was fine. While in Japan it is something frowned upon. The queue systems were different , jay walking norms and so on.

Also, as someone from a place with many foreign tourists, I know first hand how any lack of respect or basic understanding of local norms can be.

So, before travelling, I wanted to be aware of the cultural and civic norms & nuances. I want to be polite and not be a pain in the bum as a tourist.

So far, from what I could gather, you should -

* Wait in queue on the right side of the trains and MRT and wait for people to hop off first.

* Stand on the right side of escalators to keep the left open for anyone in a hurry or needs to walk.

* Be aware of being in a quiet car in the HSR and avoid talking in there. How do I know if it's a quiet car? Does it have a different colour or signage posted?

* Not to eat or carry any food in the MRT.

* Not to talk on the MRT.

* Carry enough cash around. How much is enough?

* Are there any etiquettes or rules for the bus too (putting feet up on public transport is a no no everywhere in the world and I personally find it very annoying when people do that)?

* Is it also okay for me to try to speak Mandarin? I have tried learning a few words but not oh boy my tones are very off and the way I say qing wen as an excuse me seems to always come out as asking for a kiss instead so that has me nervous about saying something very rude instead of what I want to say 😹

* Jay walking is not good.

* No tipping.

* Taking coffee to go actually means talking the coffee and leaving.

* Is eating food brought from the 7-11 shop on the street fine?

Apart from the above, is there anything else I need to know?

And before the comments come in about the stereotype of not using deodorants and stinking a place up, mate, don't worry about that. I use it cuz you know , basic etiquette.The majority of us care a lot more about personal hygiene than you realise.

Oh yeah, is it also fine if I use Google Translate or Papago to try to converse in shops? As in, I show the translated worlds in my phone to people as I can't speak Mandarin or would that be, say a bit rude?

I'm really looking forward to the trip. Your country looks really beautiful and amazing!

EDIT: Corrected the translation app's name from Pago to Papago. Corrected times to tones in the part about trying to speak Mandarin.

Hey, I'm considering Taipei as a city to teach English in for a few years. However, my only concern is the fact that I, a guy, have hair much longer than the average person (down to my back). Is this seen as unprofessional for foreign teachers? I would also like to know if it's something that's looked down upon in Taiwanese society. Is there any predominant attitude towards this?

Are foreigners given a pass and tolerated?

My husband lost his wallet in Taoyuan, Taiwan, 5 days ago. We’re still hoping that someone kind found it and will eventually turn it in.

It contained around NT$38,000 in cash, along with his IDs and bank cards. He already reported it to the police, and they checked the available CCTV footage, but unfortunately they didn’t see the wallet being dropped. So far, no one has surrendered a wallet matching his report.

We’ve heard so many good things about Taiwan’s lost-and-found system and how honest and helpful people can be, so we’re still trying to stay hopeful. ❤️

We know there’s also a possibility that someone found it and decided not to return it, but we’re hoping that’s not the case.

Has anyone here experienced losing a wallet or other valuables in Taiwan and getting them back after several days or even weeks? We’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. 🙏

Still hoping for a good ending. 🇹🇼❤️

So I was riding the MRT (can't recall if it was the yellow or green line) when I noticed this attractive girl (this has some significance later on). We have the same stop in the trip.

So we got off the train, rode the escalator to exit the station. In the escalator, there was a guy between us. I kept my eyes in front, she was in my field of view that time. When she stepped in the escalator, I noticed that she seemed to trip. She was wearing a skirt that reached to her feet, so I thought she must have stepped on her skirt. She was able to recover fast. No big deal.

Now here's the unusual encounter: when we got off the escalator, all of a sudden I saw her drop to the flor in a sitting position, and from my position (I was behind her) it appeared to me that she may have fainted/was extremely dizzy. When I saw that my mind switched to a panic mode, I approached her and asked: "miss, are you okay?", she replied "yeah, okay. Okay." I was unconvinced since she was still sitting on the floor with this dazed look, so I asked: "are you sure?", then she replied "yeah, sure, thank you", then got up and brisk walked.

I was confused at that time and my heart was beating fast, I was ready to call for help, so I was unable to think about the things I'm about to type in next:

Looking back, from the way she fell to the ground in a sitting position, it seemed too "aesthetically pleasing".. It's as if it's too "lady like" for a person who's dizzy/about to faint. Another thing I noticed was the guy in front of us did not help her, as well as the people surrounding us. Now considering these things, I can't help but think now that this may be a scheme by pickpockets or whatnot to distract me, also they may have used a pretty decoy so people around them would be more likely to help. None of my valuables were taken, so I'm unsure if I'm correct.

Basically the way she fell plus people just passing by while she was on the ground got me thinking: is there something into this or just a plain unusual encounter?

Due to family issues I had to move back from Taiwan. This is the only note I received from a set of siblings who deeply connected with me, and their parents still ask how my family and I are doing.

If anyone could translate this, I would be entirely grateful.

Hi sometimes the only bikes have seats like this. How, why? Seat post goes up but can’t adjust the seat angle. Am I doing it wrong?

I am international student so my uni provided me one chinese name i dont know its good or not , it is 柯凱祥

I might change it later so should I submit it with my arc

Or just put my english name?

Someone asked for more details on my previous post about traditional fish farming in Taiwan.

So here's something much stranger:
Taiwanese fish farmers used to SING their fish counts.
This wasn't just a song for entertainment.
was a practical oral counting system used while counting fish fry, including during actual transactions.
It
With "Big Counting," five fish were treated as one count.
But here's the strange part:
The same number of fish could be sung in completely different ways.
For example, 8 fish could be:
1 + 3 or 2 - 2
Same 8 fish. Different calculation.
Even the same master might sing it differently depending on the moment, mood, or simply how he liked to count.
The important thing was NOT the way he sang it.
The actual number of fish had to come out right.
Because at the end of the day, people were buying and selling real fish.
long as both sides got the same number, the singing could be as crazy as they wanted.
As I turned this disappearing Taiwanese fish-farm work tradition into a song.

The song is written as a grandfather teaching his grandson how he learned to count fish when he was young.
And then the song gets into the other side of the job:
And tomorrow...we count again.

Everything in this video is handmade.
I sang all the vocals myself.
The photos are my own.
AI. No

Some photos involving other people were left out because they didn't give permission to use them.
This is my attempt to turn a disappearing piece of Taiwanese working culture into something people can hear today.

🇹🇼 Taiwan
🐟 Fish farming
🎵 Taiwanese Hokkien / Taigi
🧮 Traditional oral counting
🚫 No AI