POPULATION
269
The 1981 Census showed that 57.2 per cent of the population was born in Hong Kong. About 98 per cent of the population can be described as Chinese on the basis of place of origin. Most of these people originated from Guangdong Province. Those from Canton, Hong Kong, Macau and adjacent places form the largest community while the second largest group is Siyi, followed by the Chaozhou group. The remaining members of the Chinese population have their origins in other parts of Guangdong and other provinces of China.
The estimated number of non-Hong Kong Commonwealth citizens residing in Hong Kong at the end of 1985 was 64 800. These comprised: British 14 900 (excluding members of the Armed Forces); Indian 15 200; Malaysian 9 700; Australian 8 000; Singaporean 5 000; Canadian 7 200; and other Commonwealth countries 4 800. The estimate for non- Commonwealth residents in Hong Kong was 97 200. Of these, the largest groups were: Filipino 32 200; American 15 200; Pakistani 7 100; Japanese 7 500; Thai 9 600; Portuguese 7 700; Indonesian 3 900; German 2 300; Korean 2 400; French 1 700 and Dutch 1 200.
Marriages
All marriages in Hong Kong are governed by the Marriage Ordinance and the Marriage Reform Ordinance. Under the Marriage Ordinance, at least 15 days' notice of an intended marriage must be given to the Registrar of Marriages. The registrar has discretionary powers to reduce the period of notice in special circumstances or to grant a special licence dispensing with notice altogether. But this is done only in the most exceptional circumstances.
Marriages may take place either at any of the 191 places of public worship licensed for the celebration of marriages, or at any of the 13 full-time marriage registries and three part-time_sub-registries located in the main urban districts and rural centres. A new marriage registry was opened in Tuen Mun to provide marriage registration services to the growing population of the new town. During the year, 42 627 marriages were performed in the registries and 2429 at licensed places of worship. All records are maintained permanently at the head office.
The Marriage Reform Ordinance provides that all marriages entered into in Hong Kong on or after October 7, 1971, shall imply the voluntary union, for life, of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, and may be contracted only in accordance with the Marriage Ordinance. It declares valid certain customary marriages and other marriages known as modern marriages provided, in each case, they were entered into before October 7, 1971. The ordinance also makes provision for the post-registration of these marriages, and for their dissolution. During the year, 97 customary and 19 modern marriages were post-registered.
Births and Deaths
The registration of births and deaths is compulsory. The General Register Office keeps all records of births and deaths and there are 12 registries in the urban and rural districts. Following the centralising of birth registration services in Kowloon, arrangements were made during the year to centralise similar services on Hong Kong Island. A new birth registry was opened in Tuen Mun to provide birth registration services to the residents. there. In the outlying areas and islands, births are registered at various rural committee offices by visiting district registrars, and deaths are registered at local police stations.
The statutory period during which a birth should be registered is 42 days from the date of birth. During the year, 76 433 live births and 25 325 deaths were registered, compared with