ENG-2000 — Page 483

CHAPTER 22

Population and Immigration

SINCE August 2000, the ‘resident population' approach has been adopted in place of the 'extended de facto' approach for compiling population estimates of Hong Kong so as to better reflect the residency and mobility patterns of the population. Population figures backdated to 1996 have been revised accordingly. At end-2000, the provisional population was estimated at 6 865 600, up 1.5 per cent over a year earlier. This was due to 20 900 more births than deaths and a net inflow of 83 100 residents. The average annual growth rate of the population over the period 1996-2000 was 1.3 per cent.

The birth rate in 2000 was estimated at eight per 1 000, compared with 10 per 1 000 in 1996. The death rate held stable at about five per 1 000. Consequently, the rate of natural increase dropped from five to three per 1000 over the same period.

Ageing of the population continued. The median age of the population rose from 34 in 1996 to 37 in 2000. While the proportion of people aged under 15 fell from 19 per cent in 1996 to 17 per cent in 2000, the proportion of people aged 65 and over rose from 10 per cent to 11 per cent.

The age dependency ratio, i.e. the ratio of the young and the aged to people in the age group of 15 to 64, dropped from 403 per 1 000 in 1996 to 396 per 1 000 in 2000.

With its land area of only 1 098 square kilometres, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated places. The provisional land population density per square kilometre was 6 390 in 2000. More statistics are given in the Appendices.

Immigration Department

After reunification, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) continues to be a separate travel area with autonomy over its immigration policy. The Basic Law has provided for the HKSAR Government (HKSARG) to apply immigration controls on entry into, stay in and departure from the HKSAR by persons from foreign states and regions. Entry into the HKSAR of persons from other parts of China is regulated in accordance with the previous practice.

Apart from controlling the movement of people into and out of the HKSAR, the Immigration Department provides a wide range of services to local residents. including the issue of HKSAR passports and other travel documents, visas and identity cards, the handling of nationality matters and the registration of births, deaths and marriages. Considerable effort goes into detecting and prosecuting immigration law offenders and removing illegal immigrants.

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