Taiwan has been ranked the 22nd-most prosperous country in the world on this year’s Legatum Prosperity Index, falling two spots from last year due largely to drops in personal freedom.
Taiwan slipped from 31st in the world for governance last year to 33rd this year, and from 27th for personal freedoms to 31st.
The UK-based Legatum Institute’s assessment official Nathan Gamester said that Taiwan should focus on improving government transparency to boost its performance, but added that the country has improved overall in the past five years.
The nation’s economic growth has moved up 10 spots to 16th place since 2009, which the institute attributes to gross domestic savings, confidence in financial institutions, satisfaction with living standards and decreases in non-performing loans.
The last time the country ranked 22nd was 2010, after which it climbed to 20th place for two consecutive years.
In this year’s ranking, Taiwan came in sixth in the Asia-Pacific region, following New Zealand (fifth overall), Australia (seventh), Singapore (18th), Hong Kong (19th) and Japan (21st).
The highest sub-index was safety and security, ranking ninth worldwide, which was an increase of two places since last year.
In Asia, it ranks below only Hong Kong. It stayed in the top 10 for education, 22nd in entrepreneurship and opportunity, and 25th in health.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
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