TNAG-1152-FCO40-1432-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-Commonwealth-1982 — Page 82

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

28th Annual Conference: The Bahamas : 16 22 October 1982

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Brief No.

HONG KONG'S POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SITUATION

Geography

1.

Total land area: 1,064 square kilometres (about 400

square miles): 16% built up, 9% for farming and 75% marginal

or unusable.

Population

2. 1945: 600,000. By 1971: 4.1 million. 1981: 5,2 million.

Present density: 4,900 persons per square kilometre (one of

the highest in the world). In 1980 the growth rate was 2.6%

above the natural increase, mainly because of illegal immi-

gration from China. It eased back to 1.7% in 1981, with the

adoption of tougher measures against illegals.

3.

456,000 legal and illegal immigrants have entered Hong Kong

from China in the last four years; and 91,000 Vietnamese

refugees of whom 13,000 had not been resettled at the end of

1981.

/Constitution