Taipei City Has Second-highest Per Capita GDP in Asia: TIER

Taipei, March 19, 2009 (CENS)--The per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the residents of Taipei city, Taiwan's largest city, is estimated to be US$48,400, about three times the US$16,111 posted by others on the island, according to a report released by Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), a major economic think tank in Taiwan.

Compared to other Asian cities, Taipei's GDP is only lower than Tokyo's US$65,453 and higher than that of Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul.

Chang Chien-yi, a senior research at TIER, indicated that Taipei's GDP excludes the production value by the employees from the outskirts of the city and those from neighboring cities or townships such as Taipei County, Keelung City, and Taoyuan County. If including the said areas, then the per capita GDP of Taipei and its outskirts would be reduces to US$25,000.

In terms of global urban competitiveness, Taipei was 48th among the world's 110 cities in 2006 and fifth among the Asia Pacific. In 2008, Taipei took 112th position among the world's 500 cities and the ninth in the Asia Pacific. In the same year Taipei's per capita GDP was US$14,000; while Kaohsiung City, Taiwan's second largest city, saw its per capita GDP stand at US$10,000 and Hsinchu, a famous high-tech city in northern Taiwan, boasted of US$11,000.

Chang said that the well-established infrastructure and convenient transportation are major reasons for Taipei City to generate higher GDP, not to mention its abundant government resources and geographical advantage.