Hong Kong: The Facts
Population: 6.787 million (as at mid-2002)
Hong Kong Island
1.30 million
19.1%
Age structure
Kowloon
2.03 million
29.9%
Median age: 37.5
Under 15: 16.1%
Over 64: 11.4%
New Territories
3.46 million
51.0%
Sex ratio
Marine
0.01 million
0.1%
Overall: 946 males per 1 000 females
Under 15: 1 067
Over 64: 859
Overall density
Crude birth rate
7.1# per 1 000 popn
Crude death rate 5.0# per 1 000 popn
6 300 people per square kilometre.
Kwun Tong District has 50 570 people
per square kilometre.
Housing
2.1 million people live in public rental housing, which includes 684 500 flats. In 2002, Hong Kong had
2.13 million domestic households: 52.6% occupied by the owners, 42.7% by tenants, and 4.7% by persons living in either rent-free accommodation or accommodation provided by employers.
Area: 1 102 square km
Expectation of life at birth
Male 78.7#
Nationalities Predominantly of
Chinese descent
Total foreign passport-holders (end-2002):
Largest groups
Female 84.7#
USA
32 340
Canada
30 600
95%
Thailand
29 260
India
22 150
Australia
20 610
UK
20 100
529 870
Nepal
17 610
Malaysia
14 440
Philippines
142 640
Japan
14 150
Hong Kong Island & adjacent islands Kowloon
81 square km
Indonesia
85 240
Sub-total
429 140
47 square km
New Territories-mainland
747 square km
Religion and Custom
New Territories--islands
227 square km
(Lantau 146 sq. km; others 81 sq. km)
Buddhists and Taoists make up the vast majority.
Christians 536 000; Muslims 70 000;
Hindus 15 000;
Reclamation since 1887
66 square km
Sikhs 8 000; Jews 1 500.
Weather
Average annual rainfall
2 214.3 mm
Wettest period
Hourly
daily
monthly
Driest
109.9 mm (May 8, 1992)
534.1 mm (July 19, 1926)
1 241.1 mm (May 1889)
10% humidity (January 16, 1959)
Employment
Total employment#: 3.24 million in 2002
Major Employment Sectors in 2002#
Wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels
Community, social and personal services
Financing, insurance, real estate and business services
Transport, storage and communications
Construction
Manufacturing
Unemployment rate Average wages
(All selected industries)
1 028 500
32% of total employment
848 600
26% of total employment
487 900
15% of total employment
355 800
11% of total employment
294 600
9% of total employment
193 500
6% of total employment
7.3%
$10,951 per month
Notes: figures presented on this page refer to those released up to
end-March 2003,
# provisional figure
Highest temperature
36.1°C (August 19, 1900 and August 18, 1990)
Lowest temperature
0.0°C (January 18, 1893)
Highest wind speed (gust)
259 km/h at HK Observatory, 284 km/h at Tate's Cairn (Typhoon Wanda, September 1, 1962)
The Economy
Economic growth
Year-on-year rate of change in GDP (at constant (2000) market prices)
2.3% in 2002
Inflation affecting consumers
Year-on-year rate of change in Composite CPI: -3.0% in 2002
Transport
Roads
The 1 924 km of roads carry 525 551 licensed vehicles, or about 273 vehicles per kilometre.
Bridges
Longest: Tsing Ma suspension bridge (main span
1 377 metres) and the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge
(two main spans totalling 923 metres)
Air movements
2002-206 705 flights; 33.45 million passengers; 2.48 million tonnes of freight
Shipping movements
2002-35 620 ocean vessel arrivals; 34 910 departures;
port cargo throughput 192.5 million tonnes
Container throughput
19.1 million TEUS