The number of transnational married couples last year was up 77.6 percent compared with 2022 as COVID-19 has eased globally, the latest data from the Ministry of the Interior showed.
The ministry data also showed a reversal of the downward trend in the number of married couples in the past 10 years. The number peaked in 2015, when 154,346 couples were registered. The number fell consecutively to 147,861 in 2016, 138,034 in 2017, 135,043 in 2018, 134,524 in 2019, 121,702 in 2020 and 114,606 in 2021.
The number of couples who married rebounded to 124,997 in 2022 and to 125,192 last year, the data showed.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Of the couples registered last year, 121,993 were heterosexual couples and 3,199 were same-sex couples.
Meanwhile, 82.05 percent of the marriages were between Taiwanese nationals, while 17.95 percent were between Taiwanese and foreign nationals.
Among the transnational couples, 8,797 spouses were from Southeast Asian nations, the highest among all foreign spouses, followed by 7,530 spouses from China, Hong Kong and Macao.
Meanwhile, 5,435 Vietnamese spouses were registered, along with 1,110 from the US and 916 from Malaysia, the data showed.
Compared with 2022, the number of foreign spouses rose by 9,819 last year, 4,595 of whom were Chinese and 2,159 were Vietnamese.
Among foreign spouses, 15,128 were women and 7,341 were men.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS