X1000306-1964-65_Part01 — Page 6

I. INTRODUCTION

THE Colony of Hong Kong occupies a land area of 3983 sq. miles and the estimated mid-year population in 1964 was 3,692,200, of which approximately 85% was concentrated in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It is a young population, 40% being below the age of 15 years and only 5% over the age of 60.

2. The expansion of population in post-war years, due to unprece dented immigration and rapid natural increase, has created major difficulties in the fields of preventive and curative medicine. The problems arising from severe over-crowding have been aggravated by poor environmental hygiene in the pre-war tenemem and other buildings where approximately 20% of the urban population are dependent on a night-soil collection service for sanitation, by large aggregations of squatter and roof-top dwellings and by exiguous water supplies. The severe water restrictions enforced by the drought of 1963 continued throughout the early months of 1964, but heavy rainfall from May onwards relieved the situation and a 24-hour supply was possible from September until the end of the year under review. Despite these difficulties the general level of the public health was well maintained.

3. In the following pages are reviewed the state of the public health and the more important developments in the work of the Medical and Health Department and of major voluntary agencies in receipt of subventions from Government for the support of medical activities, Detailed factual information covering all aspects of these fields is to be found in the Statistical Appendix to this report, the index to which is at page 56.

11.

PUBLIC HEALTH

VITAL STATISTICS

4. Both the live birth rate and the crude death rate continued to decline. The latter, at 4.9 per thousand of population, is now one of the lowest in the world and reflects the rapid improvement of medical and health services in a young and expanding population. The total number of live births was the lowest recorded since 1959 and the natural increase was 90,406, over five thousand less than the previous year.

1