Forgot which forum. Probably FB Group. One member tried to assert that the East Coast’s population was only a few hundred thousand or so. That didn’t make sense. So I added up the entire east coast of Taiwan: Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung.
Technically speaking, parts of New Taipei City and PingTung are also on the East Coast. But I didn’t include them specifically. So total East Coast population in 2024: 976,516. A million is actually a good estimate because of the additional people who live in those two other regions.
In order to support the population in these areas, I reckon we should extend the no. 5 highway all the way to Taitung, and connect both Taitung and Hualien to the High Speed Train Network. I think that would encourage people to move there and/or stay there. Otherwise, you’ll have emigration and aging population issues in both.