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IX. VITAL STATISTICS.
(a.)—POPULATION,
The civil population of the Colony, according to the census taken on April 24th, 1921, was 625,166, of whom 83,163 reside in the New Territories and in New Kowloon; at the census taken in 1911 it was 456,739 with 104,287 as the figure for the New Territories and New Kowloon. The estimated total population at the middle of the year under review was 874,420, but this includes the New Territories; and, as the birth and death figures given below do not include those from this area (with the exception of New Kowloon), the population for the purposes of calculating these rates is estimated at 786,920, of whom 16,500 were non-Chinese.
The distribution of population estimated to the middle of 1925 was as follows:-
Non-Chinese Civil Community,..
Population.
Chinese
City of Victoria (including Peak),...... Villages of Hong Kong,
16,500
465,000
33,040
Kowloon (including New Kowloon).
200,000
New Territories,
87,500
Population afloat,
Total Chinese Population,
Total Civil Population,
72,380
857,920
874,420
(b.)-PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION.
The birth-rate for the year was 418* per 1,000 among the Chinese community and 190 per 1,000 among the non-Chinese community, as compared with 4:16 and 190 for 1925.
The death-rate for the year was 16:01 per 1,000 among the Chinese community and 10-2 among the non-Chinese civil com- munity, as compared with 19 12 and 146 for 1925.
The deaths from Malaria numbered 587 (702 in 1925). The deaths of Chinese from this cause in the City of Victoria numbered 161 out of a population of 465,000 or a rate of 0·34 per 1,000 per annum.
The deaths from Plague numbered nil. The last deaths from Plague occurred in 1923.
Small-pox deaths numbered 26 of which 25 were Chinese.
*This figure is wholly misleading as it is impossible to register more than a portion of the births.