ENG-1990 — Page 433

374

POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION

The 1986 By-Census showed that 59.3 per cent of the people were born in Hong Kong and most have their family origins in Guangdong Province. People with their origins in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau and adjacent places form the largest community, followed by the Siyi group and the Chaozhou group. The remaining portion of the Chinese population in Hong Kong has origins in other parts of Guangdong and other provinces of China.

Immigration Department

The work of the Immigration Department falls into two main streams, controlling people moving into and out of Hong Kong, and providing travel documents and registration facilities for local residents. The work embraces such diverse fields as the issue of travel documents, visas and identity cards, naturalisation, and the registration of births, deaths and marriages. Much effort also goes into the detection and prosecution of those who breach the immigration laws and the repatriation of those who have entered Hong Kong illegally.

Immigration policies are framed to limit permanent population growth, thus maintaining the stability and prosperity of the local community, and to control the entry of foreign workers, thus protecting the local labour force from unfair competition. Every effort is made to streamline immigration procedures for Hong Kong residents, tourists and businessmen and to prevent the entry of undesirable persons and the departure of persons wanted for criminal offences, thereby contributing to the internal security and law and order of Hong Kong.

Much of the department's work requires international co-operation and immigration officers make regular visits overseas to maintain and enhance liaison with foreign law en- forcement agencies and British overseas posts.

Immigration Control

After a slight decline in 1989, passenger traffic increased again in 1990. During the year, the total number of passengers moving into and out of Hong Kong was 63.7 million, an increase of 9.5 per cent compared with 58.2 million in 1989. Movements to and from China increased by 10.5 per cent, from 33.4 million in 1989 to 36.9 million in 1990.

The number of visitors from Taiwan also increased by 16.7 per cent, from 1.2 million in 1989 to 1.4 million in 1990. To facilitate the visits of Taiwanese residents, a new type of entry permit valid for multiple visits was introduced on June 1, 1990.

During the year, a total of 260 000 residents of China visited Hong Kong, with 133 000 travelling individually and 127 000 travelling in groups - an increase of four per cent com- pared with 250 000 in 1989.

Since its opening on December 29, 1989, the new Lok Ma Chau border crossing has absorbed only a small part of the increasing vehicular traffic to and from China. In co- ordination with the Chinese authorities, efforts are being made to encourage more people to use this control point to lessen congestion at other border crossings.

Population

The population increased by 46 700 during the year to 5.86 million, a growth rate of 0.8 per cent. The increase consisted of a balance of total arrivals and departures of 7 500, and of natural growth, that is births minus deaths, of 39 200.