Taiwan 22 Counties Reference (台灣 22 縣市)

Taiwan's 22 cities and counties

Taiwan has 22 local governments at the top tier: 6 special municipalities (Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung), 3 provincial cities (Keelung, Hsinchu City, Chiayi City) and 13 counties. At the end-August 2026 count by the Ministry of the Interior's Department of Household Registration, 23,224,721 people (23.2 million) were on the household register, on 36,197 km² of land. That is registered population, not a census count of the people living in each place.

How 25 became 22

The count of 22 dates from 25 December 2010, when Taipei County became New Taipei City and Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung each merged with the county around them to become special municipalities: the MOI's table went from 25 units to 22. Taoyuan County became a special municipality on 25 December 2014, which changed the mix to six municipalities, three cities and thirteen counties but not the total.

"The six special municipalities hold 69.9% of Taiwan's registered population on 30.1% of its land — 16.2 million people on the household register."

Computed from the table above. Source: MOI Department of Household Registration, table m0s1, end-August 2026.

What the Local Government Act says

Article 3 of the Local Government Act divides the country into provinces and special municipalities, and a province into counties and cities, so a county and a provincial city are the same tier. Counties are divided into townships (鄉, 鎮 and county-administered cities); municipalities and cities are divided into districts. There are 368 townships and districts in all, and Kaohsiung City has the most, 38. Article 4 sets a population of 1,250,000 for a special municipality and 500,000 for a city. All six municipalities clear the first line — the smallest, Tainan City, has 1,846,409 — and all three provincial cities are below the second: the largest, Hsinchu City, has 455,783. They were set up before the Act, and Article 4(5) says its thresholds need not apply to them. Article 2 defines the provincial government as a branch of the Executive Yuan, and the province is not a self-governing body.

The ID-card letter

The first character of a Taiwan national ID number is a letter for the county or city that assigned the number. Since July 1969, according to the Madou household registration office in Tainan, the unified number has been assigned at birth registration. ID cards themselves were first issued in May 1947, before this numbering. There are 26 letters: 22 belong to current divisions and 4 — L, R, S and Y — name units that no longer exist (the former Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung counties, and Yangmingshan). New Taipei uses F, Taipei County's letter, and Taoyuan keeps H. I is Chiayi City and O is Hsinchu City; both are current. The letter records where the number was assigned. It is not evidence of where someone was born, lives or comes from. Letter table: Tainan City Madou Household Registration Office.

The regions are this tool's grouping

The browse table groups the 22 into North, Central, South, East and outlying islands for convenience; that grouping is ours, not an official one. The MOI's table groups them differently: the six municipalities on their own, Taiwan Province with 11 counties and 3 cities, and Fujian Province with Kinmen and Lienchiang counties (registered population 150,833).

Where the 22 appear

The MOI publishes household registration statistics for each of them every month; the first letter of every national ID number names one of them or a predecessor; and Chunghwa Post's county and township name list is organised by them, alongside its postcode files, which it now publishes in the six-digit 3+3 format.