2
Population
THE total population of the Colony at the end of 1962 was estimated to be 3,526,500. Of this number, on the basis of language and place of origin, some 98 per cent were Chinese. This estimate is based on the census of population taken in February and March 1961, adjusted for births, deaths and migration. The actual population on census day (7th March 1961) after deducting 3,483 transients, was 3,129,648. Of these 1,607,779 were male and 1,521,869 female. Details of the census have been published in Report of the Census 1961.*
The last census in 1931 found the total population to be 849,751. Another census should have been held in 1941, but the unsettled conditions which followed the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, the fluctuations in population after the attack on Canton in 1938, and later the Japanese invasion of the Colony, caused the plan to be abandoned. An unofficial count by air-raid wardens in 1941 before the Japanese attack put the population at about 1,600,000. This number was greatly reduced during the occupation and it is estimated that the total amounted to less than 600,000 when the Colony was liberated in August 1945. The population grew rapidly again with the end of hostilities, and by the end of 1946 it was believed that the pre-war-level of 1,600,000 had been regained. An assessment of the population in September 1949 by the then Department of Statistics put the total at 1,857,000.
Estimates for subsequent years have been based mainly on the birth and death registration figures and on the arrival and depar- ture figures modified, where necessary, by any other information available at the time. The calculation is complicated by a signi- ficant quantity of unrecorded immigration, particularly since the number passing both ways across the frontier in any one year can
*The report consists of three volumes and costs $40. It can be obtained at the Government publications counter in the General Post Office, Hong Kong; overseas orders should be sent direct to the Government Printer, Java Road, Hong Kong and should include postage.