The ministry said that according to household registry statistics, the number of households in Taiwan reached 7,637,756 at the end of last month, up 1.87 percent over the figure for the same time last year.
Taipei County topped the list with more than 1.33 million registered households, followed by Taipei City at over 958,000, according to the ministry.
There were a total of 18,740 births in Taiwan in October, for an average of one birth every 2.4 minutes, and 12,040 deaths, averaging out to one death every 3.7 minutes, the tallies showed.
Taiwan's total male population stood at about 11.62 million as of the end of October, while the female population reached 11.39 million, translating to 1.02 male citizens for every female citizen.
Meanwhile, average life expectancy reached 78.38 in Taiwan in 2007, putting it on par with the United States and South Korea but leaving it still behind Japan, Singapore, Canada and France, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) reported Friday in a press release.
According to the MOI statement, Taiwan's men and women who died last year lived an average 75.4 years and 81.7 years, respectively. The average life span of 78.38 years was 0.48 years longer compared to the 2006 average.
Residents in northern regions had the longest average life expectancy of any region in Taiwan at 79.98 years, followed by residents of central Taiwan at 77.68 years and those in the south at 77.27 years. Men and women residing in eastern Taiwan had the shortest average life span at 73.45 years.
