本文擬利用百年臺灣廿三縣市人口統計資料，嘗試對臺灣地區的人口變遷之長期趨勢進行研究，以期有助於當前人口相關研究之開展。經本研究處理之人口資料橫跨日治時期與國府時期，呈現了臺灣縣市人口興衰之轉折，也可為相關的研究議題提供基礎資訊。本文以縣、市層級之人口數排名資料指出，歷來擁有人口數最多之縣市逐年由南而中、由中而北的漸進過程。藉由此等臺灣各地長期人口之數據，文中發現：日治迄今，全臺人口重心的位置，就戰前而言，日治前期先呈北移、日治後期則現南降，至於戰後迄今則一路呈現持續北移之勢。此外，總計全臺人口數排名首位亦有三次轉折，第一次為彰化縣取代臺南縣，第二次為臺北市取代彰化縣，第三次為臺北縣取代臺北市，然其背後所對應之各時期全臺人口分布型態有所不同。

This paper seeks to examine Taiwan's long-term trend in population distribution using the twenty-three-county (hsien) population statistical database from 1897 to 2010, in the hope of aiding any current studies regarding population. The information presented in this paper covers the time span from the Japanese Colonial Period to Early Nationalist Rule in China, providing the rise and fall of county population in Taiwan. That said, this paper can also be of reference for related studies. From records of city and county population ranking, this paper finds the trend in city with largest population developing from south-to-mid and mid-to-north of Taiwan. And from long-term population statistics, this paper finds that from the Japanese Colonial Period to this day, before WWII, the majority of the Taiwanese population changed from migrating northward during Early Japanese Rule, to migrating south during Late Japanese Rule. Then, settling at a steady trend of migrating northward occurred after WWII. In addition, the city with largest population has changed three times in history: first, Changhua County surpassed Tainan County; second, Taipei City outgrew Changhua County; and lastly, Taipei County replaced Taipei City as the largest. Yet, keep in mind that each transition matches a different national population distribution.