ENG-2000 — Page 13

Hong Kong: The Facts

Population**: 6.866 million# (as at end-2000)

Hong Kong Island

1.37 million

20.2%

Age structure**

Kowloon

2.07 million

30.5%

Median age: 36.6

Under 15: 17.2%

Over 64: 11.2%

New Territories

3.34 million

49.2%

Sex ratio**

Marine

0.01 million

0.1%

Overall: 949 males per 1 000 females

(As at July 1, 2000)

Under 15: 1 062

Over 64: 842

Crude birth rate**

Crude death rate**

kilometre.

8.0# per 1 000 popn

4.9# per 1 000 popn

Overall density**

6 320 people per square

Kwun Tong District has 50 100 people

per square kilometre.

Housing

3.4 million people live in public housing, which includes 1 041 000 flats. In 2000,

Hong Kong had 2.09 million domestic households**, 50.3% occupied by the owners, 45.9% by tenants,

and 3.8% were living in either rent-free accommodation or accommodation provided by employers.

Area: 1 098 square km

Hong Kong Island

Expectation of life at birth*

Male 77.2#

Nationalities

Predominantly of

Chinese descent

Total foreign

passport-holders (end-2000):

**

Female 82.4#

USA

34 300

Canada

32 800

95%

Thailand

28 400

India

22 100

Australia

21 800

513 200

UK

21 200

Largest groups Philippines

Nepal

17 200

144 800

Japan

15 800

Indonesia

63 800

Sub-total

402 200

80 square km

47 square km

Religion and Custom

796 square km

175 square km

Buddhists and Taoists make up the vast majority.

Christians 529 700; Muslims 80 000:

Hindus 12 000;

62 square km

Sikhs 5 500; Jews 1 200.

Kowloon

New Territories

Outlying Islands

Reclamation since 1887

Weather

Average annual rainfall

2 214.3 mm

Wettest period

Hourly

daily

monthly

Driest

109.9 mm (May 8, 1992)

534.1 mm (July 19, 1926)

1 241.1 mm (May 1889)

10% humidity (January 16, 1959)

Employment

Total number employed**: 3.22 million in 2000

Major Employment sectors in 2000

Wholesale, retail and

import/export trades,

restaurants and hotels

Finance, insurance, real estate and business services

Community, social and personal services

Transport, storage and communications

Construction

Manufacturing

Unemployment rate**

Average wages

(All selected industries)

Notes: # provisional figure

1 057 100

33% of total employment

457 300

14% of total employment

768 700

24% of total employment

366 400

11% of total employment

309 100

10% of total employment

232 700

7% of total employment

5.0%

$11,306 per month

** Since August 2000, the 'resident population' approach has been adopted in place of the 'extended de facto' approach for compiling Hong Kong population figures. Revised population figures backdated to 1996 have been compiled. In the above tables, population figures and population-related figures are compiled based on the new approach.

Highest temperature

36.1°C (August 19, 1900 and August 18, 1990)

Lowest temperature

0.0°C (January 18, 1893)

Highest wind speed

259 km/h at HK Observatory, 284 km/h at Tate's Cairn (Typhoon Wanda, September 1, 1962)

The Economy

Economic growth

Year-on-year rate of change in GDP

(at constant (1990) market prices)

10.5% in 2000

Inflation affecting consumers

Year-on-year rate of change in Composite CPI: -3.7% in 2000

Transport

Roads

The 1 904 km of roads carry 516 782 licensed vehicles, or about 271 vehicles per kilometre.

Bridges

Longest: Tsing Ma suspension bridge (main span 1 377 metres) and the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge (two main spans totalling 923 metres)

Air movements

2000-181 927 flights; 32.13 million passengers; 2.24 million tonnes of freight

Shipping movements

2000-37 680 ocean vessel arrivals; 37 150 departures;

port cargo throughput 174.6 million tonnes

Container throughput

18.1 million TEUS.