Geography l Climate l Economy l Government l History l People l Religion
Economy
Taiwan is the 17th largest economy in the world, 14th largest exporter, 16th largest importer and ranks third in the world in terms of foreign currency reserves, after Japan and China.
After 1949, Taiwan's productivity in agriculture increased. Foreign investment was important to Taiwan during the 1960s, so they developed export-processing zones to attract more foreign investors. During the 1980s, the emphasis slowly moved to capital-intensive commodities from that of labor-intensive goods. Regulations have been removed from various financial areas like banking, stock market, trade, finance etc. during the 1990s. This was an attempt to liberalize the economy and was a sign of Taiwan's desire to join the World Trade Organization.
Also one of Asia's "Four Tigers", together with South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, Taiwan's GNP per capita rose from $1100 in the 1950s to about $11,600 in the 1990s.
