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POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION
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 or to grant a special licence dispensing with notice altogether but this is done only in exceptional circumstances.
Marriages may take place at any of the 222 places of public worship licensed for the celebration of marriages, or at any of the 10 full-time marriage registries and three part-time sub-registries. During the year, 39 537 marriages were performed in the registries and 2 144 at the licensed places of worship. All records are maintained permanently in the General Register 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. They may be contracted only in accordance with the Marriage Ordinance. Certain customary marriages and unions known as 'modern marriages' remain valid, provided they were entered into before October 7, 1971. Such marriages may be post-registered or dissolved. During the year, 25 customary and 42 'modern marriages' were post-registered.
Special arrangements have been made to enable Vietnamese illegal immigrants in detention centres to register their marriages in Hong Kong. In 1993, 992 marriages were contracted under these arrangements.
The Registrar of Marriages is also responsible for issuing Certificates of Absence of Marriage Records to local residents. During the year, 30 329 such certificates were issued, -down 8.86 per cent from the 33 276 issued in 1992.
Births and Deaths
The registration of births and deaths is compulsory. The General Register Office keeps all such records.
During the year, 71 799 live births and 30 225 deaths were registered, compared with 72 206 and 30 528, respectively, in 1992. The figures, when adjusted for under-registration, gave a natural increase in population for 1993 of about 41 300 (0.7 per cent) the lowest percentage-wise over the past 10 years.
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A birth which has not been registered within one year may be post-registered with the consent of the Registrar of Births and Deaths, on payment of a fee of $200. During the year, 337 births were post-registered.
Birth registration services in the urban area are provided by two main registries, on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. There are five birth registries in the rural areas. In the outlying areas and islands, births are normally registered at rural committee offices by visiting district registrars. Visiting services are also provided to register the births of babies born in detention centres to Vietnamese illegal immigrants (1 214 in 1993).
There are two death registries, on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. Deaths in the rural areas are registered at local police stations.
Establishment and Training
At the end of the year, the department had an establishment of 3 502 disciplined staff four (0.1 per cent) more than in 1992. Its civilian staff numbered 2 109, compared to 2 072 in 1992. A total of 189 immigration assistants were recruited in 1993.