Top 10 ways to die young in Taiwan
Living dangerously in one of the safest places on Earth…
Taiwan is ranked 4th safest country in the world, even ahead of Singapore and Japan. And it has the world’s top-ranked healthcare system. Which is just as well, because dangers lurk around every corner.
Today, I grimly present the top 10 ways to die young in Taiwan:
Death by vehicle elevator
1–2 deaths per year
Vehicle elevators are common in Taiwan, where population density is high and land is expensive. There’s one in my building that goes four floors underground. Just along the street, there’s an above-ground car stacker that’s 12 stories tall.
When I bought my scooter, I asked the building manager if I could rent a basement parking space, and was told no—it would be too dangerous. I wondered if she was just being over-cautious, but since then, I’ve noticed a few news stories like this one, that suggest she was right to deny my request:
Taiching woman dies after neck crushed in parking elevator (Taiwan News)
Death by snake bite
Up to 10 deaths per year
I’ve only seen one wild snake in Taiwan, on a road in Chiayi County. I’ve also seen a couple of dried snakeskins. But I am anxious about snakes. Not just because of a general fear, but because I have no idea which species are dangerous in Taiwan—where over 1,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes each year.
I avoid grassy areas at night, and I’m extra cautious on hiking trails. I’m also thankful I never undertook compulsory military service in Taiwan: a friend of mine recalls, on solo-duty night watch at an outpost in the forest, he’d routinely have to ward off venomous snakes with sticks.
1.5-meter snake caught inside car in southern Taiwan (Taiwan News)
Death by heatstroke
20–30 deaths per year
I haven’t had heatstroke, but I came close once—experiencing heat exhaustion the day I rode 45 km for ice-cream. I recovered in an hour, but that was bad enough.
Taiwan has around 2,400 cases of acute heat illnesses each year. The mortality rate for heatstroke patients is around 1% within three months of the onset of symptoms.
Recognizing early signs of heatstroke crucial: doctor (Taipei Times)
Death by natural disaster
20–50 deaths per year
The scale of natural disasters fluctuates wildly year-to-year. When I arrived in Kaohsiung, for example, there had been no typhoons for four years—but I’ve lost count of how many have hit Taiwan since then. Maybe five or six?
In 2009, Typhoon Morakot killed 471 people in a landslide in a rural part of Kaohsiung. In 1999, an M7.3 earthquake in central Taiwan killed 2,415.
But then, last year, an M7.2 earthquake—which caused widespread damage on the east coast—killed only 19. Earthquake safety standards for buildings have been stepped up over the past 25 years, with great success.
2024 Hualien earthquake (Wikipedia)
Death by fire or explosion
50–100 deaths per year
Taiwan has massively increased fire safety in the past 30 years. In 1990, there were 2.31 fire deaths per 100,000 people. In 2019, that figure had dropped to 0.48—better than Canada, the US, and most countries in Asia.
But horrific disasters still occur: in 2021, 46 people were killed in a building fire in Kaohsiung. In 2015, 15 people were killed at an outdoor ‘color powder party’ in New Taipei City, when colored corn starch ignited. And earlier this year, five people were killed by a dramatic gas explosion in a shopping mall in Taichung.
Deadly gas explosion in Taiwan tears through shopping mall floor, kills at least five (CNN)
Death by Dengue fever
0–200 deaths per year
My building was fumigated in 2023 after a confirmed case of dengue fever within a 100-meter radius. A national epidemic in 2015 saw 228 people killed and 43,000 infected.
But then, in other years, Dengue cases are almost non-existent.
I discovered early on that mosquitoes love me in Taiwan. I remember one night walking near the harbor with a local friend. I was wearing mosquito repellent everywhere from the neck down, but dozens of mosquitoes continued to circle above my head. My friend, sans protection, was completely unbothered by them—even when I tried tilting my head in his direction.
Apparently, roughly 85% of the variation in how attractive people are to mosquitoes is due to genetics. So there’s not much I can do about it—other than covering up and wearing mosquito repellent every time I step outside.
Dengue fever cases dropping, but risk still there: CDC (Taipei Times)
Death by pedestrian accident
400 deaths per year
I love walking in Taiwan. This year, between daily activities and evening walks by the harbor, I’ve been averaging just under 10,000 steps a day.
But walking in Taiwan is also dangerous.
When a friend from New Zealand visited in 2023, he mentioned he felt very unsafe here. I was surprised, and explained to him that Taiwan’s an exceptionally safe country. But it wasn’t crime that concerned him: his hearing impairment meant walking in the city made him especially vulnerable.
Scooter riders routinely drive on sidewalks if looking for a park. And often, streets don’t have sidewalks at all. You need to walk along the road and trust the speeding drivers around you.
I never, ever, use noise cancellation when walking in Taiwan. It would be way too dangerous. But my friend’s comment reminded me that for some people, suppressed traffic noise is a risk they cannot avoid.
Taiwan: A ‘living hell for pedestrians’ (Taipei Times)
Death by scooter
2,000 deaths per year
Taiwan is a scooter paradise. Kaohsiung alone has 2.3 million scooters, for a population of 2.7 million. There are many more scooters than cars.
But scooters don’t have airbags. (I’m lucky mine has ABS brakes and traction control, but these features are not standard.)
It seems almost everyone I’ve met in Taiwan has experienced a severe scooter accident at some time in their life, most requiring hospitalization.
Taiwan has 5 times the population of New Zealand, but 10 times the number of traffic fatalities. It’s wild out there.
Taiwan’s road fatalities per 100,000 people twice that of South Korea (Taiwan News)
Death by betel nut
3,000 deaths per year
Betel nut is the seed of the areca palm, commonly chewed for its stimulant effects (it’s famously popular with long-distance truck drivers). I haven’t tried it, but people say it gives a mild euphoria and an extreme alertness—much more than a cup of coffee.
But it’s also carcinogenic. 70% of Taiwan’s oral cancer patients are betel nut chewers. The cancer is usually caught at a late stage, making it highly deadly.
Regulate, discourage use of betel nuts: advocates (Taipei Times)
Death by air pollution
7,000 deaths per year
Air pollution is great for sunsets, but not so great for life. An estimated 4,200 deaths each year are caused by pollutants drifting over from abroad (mainly China), but the rest have domestic origins: vehicle and industrial emissions.
The world’s largest coal-fired power plant, for example, is in Taichung City.
Here in Kaohsiung, I pass Taiwan’s third-largest gas-fired power plant every time I walk to IKEA.
Like many Taiwanese, I have an air purifier in my apartment. It’s on 24/7. I also have an AQI widget on my phone’s lock screen. I check this each morning to decide whether to mask up when I leave the house.
In Kaohsiung, air pollution is worse in winter—when it rarely rains and there’s little wind to clear the air. But summer days are beautiful, with clean blue skies. Even so, I’ll sometimes wear a mask on my scooter in summer, to avoid breathing the fumes of other scooters around me.
Taiwan's air pollution more likely to cause lung cancer than smoking 1 pack per day (Taiwan News)
Male life expectancy in Tawian is 78 years, compared to 80 years in New Zealand. (In both countries, it’s 84 for females.)
Morbidly, I think about this often.
Living here is probably shortening my life. But there’s nowhere else I’d rather die young.