Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS-ANNUAL.
VII-VITAL STATISTICS.
(A.) POPULATION.
The population of the last census, which was taken in 1897, was 246,880. As the returns of the 1891 census gave the figures at 221,441, there is thus an increase of 25,439.
It is estimated that in the middle of 1898 the population stood as follows:-
Non-Chinese civil population 8,732
Chinese population :-
City of Victoria, including Peak and Stonecutters' Island 165,900
Villages in Hong Kong and Kowloon 39,940
Floating population ... 33,370
Total... 239,210
Army 3,073
Navy 3,385
Total estimated population of the Colony 254,400
(B.) PUBLIC HEALTH.
The total number of deaths during 1898 was 5,674, showing a death-rate of 22.3. Of the 5,674 deaths recorded, 1,175 were from plague; therefore excluding deaths from plague the death-rate for the year was only 17.7.
The deaths were distributed as follows :-
Non-Chinese- 200, showing a death-rate of 16.2
White Coloured Chinese 91 5,383
Total 5,674
Average death-rate... 22.3
The deaths in the army numbered 32, of which 23 were British and the rest Indian; in the navy there were 11 deaths among British seamen. Seven per 1,000 of the deaths among British troops were due to malarial diseases alone. Two Indian soldiers and one British soldier died of plague. Of this disease there was a