XN000022-1995-02-22 — Page 70

(d)

57 -

the number of children below the age of 15 who came to Hong Kong with one-way exit permits issued by China, together with the proportion of this group of children to the children of the same age group in the territory in percentage terms, in each of the past three years?

Reply:

Mr President,

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

3620

The figure of 300,000 is estimated on available data, including record of applications for Certificates of Absence of Marriage, legal immigration statistics, demographic statistics and assumptions about family size, and a survey conducted in 1991 of the number of Hong Kong men married to women in China. We do not have a breakdown of this figure by age groups of five years.

We estimate that among these 300,000 mainland children, about 64,000 (as at the beginning of 1995) will have the right of abode in Hong Kong as from July 1, 1997 in accordance with the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. If the present rate of the entry of these children into Hong Kong for settlement remains unchanged, there will be about 55,000 such children in China by July 1997. That figure may of course be affected by any change to the current one-way permit quota, or by any change to demographic trends.

Both sets of estimated numbers refer to legitimate children only. We do not have any estimate of the number of illegitimate children born in China to Hong Kong residents. Whether illegitimate children born to Hong Kong permanent residents will have automatic right of abode in Hong Kong under the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law is under discussion with the Chinese Government.

The numbers of children under 15 who came to settle in Hong Kong under one-way exit permits in 1992, 1993 and 1994 are 7,853, 8,396 and 11,156 respectively. They constituted 0.66%, 0.71% and 0.95% of the under 15 population in Hong Kong in these three years.

End/Wednesday, February 22, 1995

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