Abstract
International audience Since the sixteenth century, Taiwan served as a refuge island for Chinese minorities persecuted on the mainland. Its settlement was effected by two migratory waves: one from 1661 and extending to 1945, the other after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949. The strong increase of the population, sometimes giving rise to the distinction between "native Taiwanese" and "mainlanders" made Taiwan one of the world's most densely populated countries and stimulated strong urbanization. The priority given to education, in the years 1950-1960, favored its remarkable economic growth. After a particularly rapid demographic transition, Taiwan entered the post-transition period in the mid-1980s, with fertility below the generational replacement level. Hence the inevitable aging of the population.