ded the primary impetus
for industrialization. Inflation and unemployment are low; the trade
surplus is substantial; and foreign reserves are the world's third
largest. Agriculture contributes 3% to GDP, down from 35% in 1952.
Traditional labor-intensive industries are steadily being moved
off-shore and replaced with more capital- and technology-intensive
industries. Taiwan has become a major investor in China, Thailand,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The tightening of
labor markets has led to an influx of foreign workers, both legal and
illegal. Because of its conservative financial approach and its
entrepreneurial strengths, Taiwan suffered little compared with many
of its neighbors from the Asian financial crisis in 1998-99. Growth in
2000 should pick up a bit from 1999, backed by expansion in domestic
consumption, exports, and private investment.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $357 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.5% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $16,100 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3%
industry: 33%
services: 64% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: 1% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 0.4% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 9.7 million (1999 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: services 55%, industry 37%, agriculture
8% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2.9% (1999 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $36.82 billion
expenditures: $40.53 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1999 est.)

Industries: electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, textiles, iron
and steel, machinery, cement, food processing

Industrial production growth rate: 7.5% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 133.586 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 65.91%
hydro: 7.84%
nuclear: 26.25%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 124.235 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs,
poultry, beef, milk; fish

Exports: $121.6 billion (f.o.b., 1999)

Exports - commodities: electronics, electric and machinery equipment
52%, metals, textiles, plastics, chemicals

Exports - partners: US 26%, Hong Kong 21%, Europe 18%, Japan 10%,
Singapore 3% (1999)

Imports: $101.7 billion (c.i.f., 1999)