The number of migrant workers in Taiwan has reached a historic high of more than half a million, according to annual statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior on Saturday.
An increase of 68,000 between December 2013 and December last year now brought the total number to 550,200.
Migrant workers now account for almost 70 percent of the 800,000 foreign nationals — excluding Chinese nationals — living in Taiwan.
They are currently limited to employment as industrial laborers, domestic caretakers and maritime workers.
The report shows that 41.6 percent are from Indonesia, 27.3 percent from Vietnam and 20.2 percent are from the Philippines.
Statistics from the past five years show a 9.8 percent decrease in migrant workers from Thailand and a gradual increase in Indonesians.
There was a significant increase in the number of migrant workers who were employed as industrial workers throughout last year, along with a small increase in foreign domestic caretakers and maritime workers.
The total number of migrant workers has seen an increase of more than 200,000 over the past decade, with the number in 2004 around 314,000 people.
Meanwhile, among foreign nationals with resident visas, foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens account for the second-largest group, with about 43,000 people — of whom Vietnamese account for slightly more than one-third.
More than 130,000 foreign nationals are in Taiwan with visitors’ visas, with the top three nations of origin being Japan at 25.78 percent, the US at 16.05 percent and Malaysia at 9.41 percent.
Most foreign nationals reside in Taoyuan, New Taipei City and Taipei.
Additional reporting by CNA
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai