ENG-1960 — Page 59

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POPULATION

of 1946 it was believed that the immediately pre-war level of 1,600,000 had been regained. An assessment of the population in September 1949 by the then Department of Statistics put the total at 1,857,000.

Estimates for subsequent years have been based mainly on the birth and death registration figures and on the arrival and depar- ture figures modified, where necessary, by any other information available at the time.

The population problem is complicated by illegal immigrants who may have added considerably to the estimate. Again, the number of recorded journeys made both ways across the frontier in any one year can be equal to or greater than the estimated total number of the population.

IMM

The population increased during 1960 by some 95,000 to reach the agreed estimate of 3,014,000. 91,521 of this increase was due to the excess of registered births over registered deaths. The actual number of registered births was 110,667 in 1960 compared with 104,579 in 1959 and of registered deaths 19,146 compared with 20,250. These figures yield a birth rate of 37.1 per mille for 1960 and a death rate of 6.4 per mille, on the mid-year population of 2,981,000.

The population census of March 1961 will provide not only a sound figure for the total population but also those demographic statistical analyses of which the lack has long been felt in Hong Kong and of which the estimates in the past have been of but limited value.

URBAN POPULATION

British subjects, excluding Service personnel and their depend- ants, numbered some 15 - 16,000 at the end of 1960. The largest of these communities were of United Kingdom, Portuguese and Indian origin. The total of non-Chinese permanent and semi- permanent residents, other than British nationals, was 9,500 and the largest communities were American (2,436), Portuguese (1,750), Japanese (650), Filipino (549), Indonesian (387), Dutch (364) and French (335). The figures for non-Chinese nationals other than British are provided by the Aliens Registration Office with whom all aliens are required to register; passports or other documents are the source of nationality classification.