MOI officials said the increase was about six times that of the 0.34 percent rate of growth of Taiwan's overall population.

Taiwan's indigenous people were also younger on average than other groups, averaging 31.93 years of age as of the end of last year, 5.23 years lower than the 37.16 years the country's population averaged as a whole.

The number of indigenous people over 65 accounted for 6.1 percent of the total indigenous population, lower than the 10.4 percent of senior citizens in the overall population.

Of the 14 tribes in Taiwan, the Amis were the most populous with 177,909 people, followed by the Paiwan and Atayal tribes.

The three tribes accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total indigenous population.

Hualien County in eastern Taiwan had the most indigenous people at 89,812, accounting for 18.8 percent of the country's total, followed by Taitung and Pingtung counties.

But Taitung County had the highest ratio of indigenous people, who accounted for 34 percent of the county's population.

(By Lilian Wu)