TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1986
6
POPULATION GROWTH RATE SLOWING DOWN
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THERE WAS AN INCREASE OF 410 000 PEOPLE IN HONG KONG OVER 1981, REPRESENTING AN AVERAGE ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF 1.6 PER CENT COMPARED TO 2.8 PER CENT BETWEEN 1976 AND 1981, A REPORT ON A POPULATION BY-CENSUS BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT REVEALED TODAY (TUESDAY).
THE BY-CENSUS, CONDUCTED IN MARCH THIS YEAR, WAS BASED ON
A ONE-IN-SEVEN SAMPLE OF THE POPULATION AND A TOTAL OF 218 381 HOUSEHOLDS WERE ENUMERATED. QUESTIONS ASKED COVERED THE BROAD RANGE OF SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION.
ACCORDING TO THE FINDINGS, THERE WERE 5.5 MILLION RESIDENTS OF HONG KONG IN MARCH 1986. A TOTAL OF 5.43 MILLION PEOPLE WERE ENUMERATED, INCLUDING TRANSIENTS AND VIETNAMESE REFUGEES. IT WAS ALSO ESTIMATED THAT 99 500 RESIDENTS WERE TEMPORARILY AWAY FROM HONG KONG AT THE TIME OF THE BY-CENSUS.
COMMENTING ON THE POPULATION GROWTH, THE ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR CENSUS AND STATISTICS, MR JOSEPH LEE SAID THAT THE GROWTH RATE OF 1.6 PER CENT OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS WAS LOWER THAN THE RATE FOR ANY OTHER INTERCENSAL PERIOD SINCE 1961.
THE GROWTH DUE TO NATURAL INCREASE HAS SLOWED DOWN FURTHER AS A RESULT OF THE CONTINUOUS DECLINE IN FERTILITY. GROWTH DUE TO IMMIGRATION HAS ALSO BEEN SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED AS A RESULT OF THE REVISION OF IMMIGRATION POLICY AT THE END OF 1980.
AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF SLOWER POPULATION GROWTH AND CONTINUOUS INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF LIVING QUARTERS, THE 1986 BY-CENSUS PRESENTED A PICTURE OF IMPROVED HOUSING CONDITIONS.
+THERE WAS A SMALLER NUMBER OF PEOPLE PER LIVING QUARTERS IN 1986 THAN IN 1981. IN TERMS OF A DECREASE IN THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE (FROM 3.9 TO 3.7) AND A DECREASE IN THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS PER LIVING QUARTERS (FROM 1.19 TO 1.11),+ MR LEE SAID.
AT THE SAME TIME, THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE PROPORTION OF HOUSEHOLDERS OWNING FLATS (35 PER CENT AS AGAINST 28 PER CENT FIVE YEARS AGO).
THE PROPORTION OF HOUSEHOLDS IN PUBLIC AND AIDED RENTAL BLOCKS WAS 35 PER CENT AND THAT IN PRIVATE HOUSING BLOCKS WERE 44 PER CENT IN 1986, AN INCREASE OF 2 PERCENTAGE POINTS AND A DECREASE OF 3 PERCENTAGE POINTS RESPECTIVELY OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS.
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