Nearly eight out of ten newly naturalized citizens of Taiwan come from Vietnam and more than 90% of Taiwan’s new nationals in 2014 were spouses from other countries.
According to the interior ministry’s figures released on Saturday, 4,399 people became naturalized citizens of Taiwan last year. That’s 605 fewer than in the previous year. The ministry attributed the change to the decline beginning in 2005 in the number of cross-border marriages.
The ministry also said more than 95% of the newly naturalized citizens last year were female. Of the total number, 77.2% came from Vietnam.
At the same time, statistics show that 652 people gave up their Taiwanese citizenship, and 92% of them did so voluntarily. The ministry said among those who voluntarily gave up their Taiwanese citizenship, 32.5% took up South Korean citizenship, 27.8% became naturalized Japanese, and 20.2% became citizens of Singapore.