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Population
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THE total estimated population of Hong Kong at the end of 1972 was 4,103,500, with 2,095,300 males and 2,008,200 females. This estimate is based on the population esti- mate at the end of 1971, adjusted by births, deaths and migration during the year. Compared with the population in 1961, this represents an increase of 908,200 over the past 11 years.
Density: Hong Kong, with a total land area of only 400 square miles (1,045 square kilometres) is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and its population is comparable with that of Norway (3.9 million in 1970), Niger (4.0 million in 1970) or Zambia (4.3 million in 1970). The total population, excluding transients and boat people, on census day March 9, 1971 was 3,856,736 and the density of population per square kilometre was almost 3,700, which is higher than that of Singapore (3,528 in 1970) and East Berlin (2,665 in 1970). The 1971 census also revealed that Mong Kok with 154,677 persons per square kilometre was then the most densely populated dis- trict. This is about 10 times greater than Tokyo city proper (15,754/sq km in 1969) or Osaka city proper (15,158/sq km in 1969).
Population Composition: Of the total population, over 98 per cent can be de- scribed as Chinese on the basis of language and place of origin. At the time of the 1971 census, 29,004 persons claimed to originate from Britain. According to records main- tained by the Immigration Department, the numbers of other Commonwealth citizens residing in Hong Kong at the end of 1972 were as follows: India 5,328; Malaysia 3,081; Australia 2,399; Singapore 1,663; Canada 1,180; other Commonwealth countries 1,378. The figure of non-Commonwealth,alien residents (excluding visitors staying for period of less than three months and children under 16 years old), based on records. kept by the Aliens' Registration Office, was 23,040. The largest groups were American (6,200), Japanese (2,891), Portuguese (2,502), Pakistani (1,926), Filipino (1,651), Indonesian (1,213), German (889), Korean (659), Dutch (624), French (565).
Approximately 55 per cent of the urban population is now of Hong Kong birth. Most of these, and the greater part of the immigrant population, come from Kwang- tung Province. The districts of Kwangtung which have supplied the largest percentage of Hong Kong's urban Chinese population are Po On and Tung Kwun, Wai Yeung and Mui Yuen, Chiuchow, Sze Yap, Nam Hoi, Pun Yue, Shun Tak and Chung Shan. The urban population also includes immigrants from Fukien and Kiangsu and over- seas Chinese whose families originally came from Kwangtung or Fukien.
In the New Territories, the indigenous inhabitants consist principally of Can- tonese, Hakka, Tanka and Hoklo. The Cantonese and Hakka groups are traditionally