POPULATION
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same. The average life-span of both males and females has increased by seven per cent over the past 15 years, but male and female expectations of life at birth are still very
different. Females born in 1975 should live, on average, 7.56 years longer than males; their expectation of life at birth was 75.5 years and 67.94 years respectively.
Hong Kong has a land area of only 1046 square kilometres (404 square miles) and it is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Its population is comparable to that of Norway (4 million in 1973), Niger (4.3 million), Guinea (4.2 million) or Zambia (4.6 million). The overall density of population per square kilo- metre at the end of 1975 was 4,187. But this figure includes a wide variety of densities by individual areas. For example, according to the 1971 census, the most densely populated district was Mong Kok with 154,677 people per square kilometre. The figure for the metropolitan areas (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Kowloon and Tsuen Wan) was 17,098; and for the New Territories 468. These area densities will of course change in the future with the development of more new towns in the New Territories-notably at Sha Tin and Tuen Mun. They are being developed to alleviate high densities in existing urban areas and to cope with the prospect of an increasing population.
More than 98 per cent of the population can be described as Chinese on the basis of language and place of origin. At the end of 1975, the number of non-Hong Kong Commonwealth citizens residing in Hong Kong totalled 42,960. These comprised: British 18,994 (excluding members of Armed Forces); Indian 7,436; Australian 4,400; Singaporean 2,585; Canadian 2,117; and other Commonwealth countries 7,428. The number of non-Commonwealth alien residents was 26,316, of which the largest groups were: American 6,679; Portuguese 3,731; Pakistani 3,549; Filipino 3,070; Japanese 2,155; Indonesian 1,560; German 1,094; Korean 731; French 689; and Dutch 583.
About 58 per cent of the population is of Hong Kong birth. Most of these people, and the greater part of the immigrant population, originated from Kwangtung Province. The Cantonese group forms the biggest community; the second biggest group is Sze Yap followed by the Chiu Chow group. The remaining Chinese popula- tion have their Heung Ha or origins in other places of Kwangtung, Shanghai and the coastal provinces of China.
Marriages
All marriages in Hong Kong are governed by the Marriage Ordinance and the Marriage Reform Ordinance. Under the Marriage Ordinance, notice of an intended marriage must be given to the Registrar at least 15 clear days in advance. The Regis- trar has discretion to reduce the period of notice in special circumstances, and the Governor has power to grant a special licence dispensing with notice altogether, but this is done rarely and then only in the most exceptional circumstances.
Marriages may take place either at places of public worship licensed for the cele- bration of marriages or at any of the 12 full-time marriage registries and 13 part-time sub-registries located in the main urban districts and rural centres. During the year 33,788 marriages were performed in the registries and 2,413 at licensed places of