Taitung County is located in the southeastern part of Taiwan Province of the People's Republic of China, and is the third largest county in the Taiwan region in terms of area after Hualien and Nantou counties. Geographically, the county is located south of the Tropic of Cancer, east of the Pacific Ocean (Philippine Sea), bounded by the Central Mountain Range to the south and west with Pingtung County and Kaohsiung City, and neighboring Hualien County to the north. It has 1 city, 2 towns and 13 townships under its jurisdiction. The county seat is located in Taitung City. In 2013, Taitung County had a gross regional product of 8.3 billion yuan, an increase of 18.0% from 2012, an area of 3,515 square kilometers, and a population of 224,218 (January 2015), making it the least populous county on the island of Taiwan, and the least densely populated, with a population density of only 72 people per square kilometer.