try of Education report released this month shows that the highest percentage of them are in northern Taiwan. Of the more than 80,000 students with a foreign-born parent admitted to elementary schools and junior high schools around Taiwan in the 2006-2007 academic year, 44 percent are in northern Taiwan, 27 percent in southern Taiwan, 26.5 percent in central Taiwan and 2 percent in eastern Taiwan, according to the report.
They include 12,929 in Taipei County, 9,362 in Taoyuan County and 5,888 in Taipei City.
In the 2006-2007 academic year, a total of 3,269 elementary and junior high schools have students with a foreign-born parent, up 120 from 3,149 the previous year.
There is an average of 24.5 students with a foreign-born parent in each school in the 2006-2007 academic year, compared with an average of 19.1 students in the previous year.
On the original nationality of the foreign-born parents, Chinese account for the highest number at 28,776, or 35.9 percent.
Indonesians are in second place with 18,007, followed by Vietnamese with 16,584 and Filipino with 4,500.
Foreign-born parents from these four countries together account for approximately 85 percent of the total number.
The report indicates that regions dominated by agricultural activities have the most foreign-born parents from Indonesia and Vietnam.
In Pingtung County, where fishing is the major means of livelihood, most foreign-born parents are from the Philippines.
Most of the foreign-born parents in urban areas are from China.
The report said that as the birth rate among foreign spouses has been increasing, an average of one in every eight newborns in Taiwan is now from a foreign spouse.
The number of elementary and junior high school students with a foreign-born parent has also jumped 1.8 times over the past four years, from 30,040 in the 2003-2004 academic year to more than 80,000 in the 2006-2007 academic year, according to the report.
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