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from Communist China who had "voted with their feet" for the way of life that the Colony could offer them. This vast influx of refugees, which began in 1950, has over the years presented the authorities in Hong Kong with enormous problems in meeting their needs for housing and social services generally: these needs have been met with great efficiency despite the very considerable difficulties involved. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas of the world. In specific urban areas the density reaches a peak of five thousand persons per acre and the average population density of the Colony is ten thousand persons per square mile.
Well over of Hong Kong's total land area of four hundred square miles were leased from China for ninety-nine years in 1898. The lease accordingly expires in 1997 and there seems no likelihood that it will be renewed.
Hong Kong Department 8 January 1969.
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