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Demographics of Hong Kong

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Demographics and culture of Hong Kong
Demographics
Culture
Other Hong Kong topics

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Hong Kong, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with an overall density of some 6,300 people per square kilometre. The term "densely populated, green city" is used to describe the majority of the people living in apartments in high-rise buildings, and most land reserved for open spaces, country parks, and woodland.

Hong Kong has one of the world’s lowest birth rates—0.9 per woman of child-bearing age, far below the replacement rate of 2.1. With just 1,032 babies born in 2009 to every 1000 fertile women, it is estimated that 26.8% of the population will be aged 65 or more in 2033, up from 12.1% in 2005.

Terminology

Main article: Hong Kongers

Han Chinese residents generally refer to themselves as Hèung Góng Yàhn (Chinese: 香港人; Cantonese Yale: Hèung Góng Yàhn; lit. 'Hong Kong people') (Chinese: 香港華人), however the term is not resticted to those of Han Chinese decent. Due to Hong Kong's nearly 150 year colonial history that saw the stationing of English, Indians and Russians among other ethnic groups as civil servants or traders. Thus a distinct and legitimate non-Cantonese culture with specifics to Hong Kong grew. Mixing of cultural groups did not occur much beyond governance and business due to two main reasons:

  • Between Chinese and other ethnicities: the Cantonese language posed a significant barrior for newcomers. Far too often non-Chinese were stationed in Hong Kong for fixed periods of time (2-,4-,8-year terms) and thus motivation to learn the language was reduced. Furthermore pre-1970's Hong Kong saw official governance favouring English or British culture for the most part. For example English was the only official language and educational institutes of quality were also English speaking. Therefore a continuation of English culture by recent English immigrants was simple and official policy; the need to integrate with the Chinese populations was thus limited. Furthermore Chinese population were largely unable to learn English due to the lack of proper educational facilities in pre-1970 Hong Kong. Racial tensions arose as a result of perceived unbalances, leading to the 1966 and 1967 riots.
  • Between non-Chinese ethnicities: most non-Chinese ethnic groups came to Hong Kong as traders, civil servants or soldiers in which one's race played a significant role in the determination of class. For example, the 1928 HK Police handbook, clearly assigns power, responsibility and rank based on race (White, Indian and Chinese).

In English the term "Hong Kongers" (or sometimes Hongkongers) and 'Hongkongese' are becoming more popular to describe the people of and unique local culture of Hong Kong.[1][2]

Demographic statistics

Population

Census data

Year Count Source
1841 5000-7,500 census 1841[3]
1848 24,000 [3]
1851 33,000 [3]
1855 72,000 [3]
1862 120,000 [4]
1881 160,402 Britannica 1911
1891 221,441 Britannica 1911
1901 283,978 Britannica 1911
1906 326,961
1916 530,000 [4]
1921 625,166 [5]
1925 725,000 [4]
1931 849,800 census 1931
1941 1,600,000 [4]
1945 500,000 [6]
1945 600,000 [7]
1945 750,000 [8]
1950 2,200,000 [7]
1950 2,360,000 [6]
1960 3,000,000 [9]
1970 3,995,400 [10]
1980 5,145,100 [11]
1985 5,524,600 [12]
1995 6,270,000 [13]
2000 6,711,500 [14]
2005 6,837,800 [15]
2009 7,026,400 [16]
People of Hong Kong

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Age structure: (End of 2006 est.) [17]

 0-14 years: 13.5% (male 482,500; female 452,100)
15-24 years: 13.1% (male 445,400; female 459,300)
25-34 years: 15.3% (male 462,000; female 592,000)
35-44 years: 18.1% (male 547,000; female 698,400)
45-54 years: 17.5% (male 594,200; female 613,400)
55-64 years: 10.0% (male 353,500; female 337,400)
65 and over: 12.5% (male 339,500; female 464,800)

Average age: 41.7 (2008 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.53% (2008 est.)

Birth rate: 7.37 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate: 5.93 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)
Net migration rate: 8.12 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.12 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female
total population: 0.914 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Average marriage age:

male: 30
female: 27

Marriage: (2006 est.)

Never Married 32% (1,920,522)
Now married 57.8% (3,423,995)
Divorced 3.2% (189,563)
Separated 0.6% (34,722)

Infant mortality rate: 5.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 82.88 years
male: 81.85 years
female: 84.41 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.04 children born/woman (2010 est.)

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 92.2%
male: 96%
female: 88.2% (1996 est.)

By ethnicity

File:Hk anti-discrimination poster.jpg
An anti-discrimination poster in Admiralty MTR station.

Chinese make up 95% of the population with the other groups floating at around 5%[18]. The national census does not break down people of European descent into separate categories, nor are Chinese ethnic subgroups separated in the statistics.

Ethnicity 2001 Number % of Total 2006 Number % of Total
Chinese 6,364,439 94.9% 6,522,148 95.0%
Filipino 142,556 2.1% 112,453 1.6%
Indonesian 50,494 0.8% 87,840 1.3%
Westerns 46,584 0.7% 36,384 0.5%
Indian 18,543 0.3% 20,444 0.3%
Nepalese 12,564 0.2% 15,950 0.2%
Japanese 14,180 0.2% 13,189 0.2%
Thai 14,342 0.2% 11,900 0.2%
Pakistani 11,017 0.2% 11,111 0.2%
Other Asian 12,835 0.2% 12,663 0.2%
Others 20,835 0.3% 20,264 0.3%
Total 6,708,389 100.0% 6,864,346 100.0%

Group category

Stanley Market, one of the more diverse destinations

The current list is in alphabetical order after category.

By Ethnicity

By Migration

Religion

The Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau, Hong Kong, the tallest outdoor buddha statue in the world.
Main article: Religion in Hong Kong

Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of religious freedom, a right enshrined and protected through its constitutional document, the Basic Law. The majority of Hong Kong's population (90%) practise a mix of local religions,[19] Buddhism (mainly Chinese Mahayana) alongside with Taoism.[20][21][22][23][24] Buddhists and Taoists share a common background of Confucian theory, Chinese folk religion (worship of folk deities and figures of Chinese mythology) and ancestor worship.

A sizable Christian community of around 560,000 local adherents (320,000 Protestants, 240,000 Roman Catholics)[25] to 660,000 exists (if including over 100,000 Filipino Catholics)[26], forming about 8% to 9% of the total population; it is roughly equally divided between Catholics and Protestants. Apart from the major religions, there are also a significant number of followers of other religions, including an estimated 90,000 Muslims; 22,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[27]; 4,000 Jews; 4,789 Jehovah's Witnesses[28] and a number of Hindus, Sikhs and Bahá'ís[25]. There is also a small group of Jains in Hong Kong and their temple is situated in an apartment[citation needed]. Apart from offering religious instructions, many major religious bodies have established schools and provided social welfare facilities.

See also

References

  1. ^ Poon Angela and Jenny Wong, Struggling for Democracy Under China: The Implications of a Politicised 'Hongkongese' Identity http://www.civic-exchange.org/publications/Intern/2004-JennyandAngela.pdf
  2. ^ Sidney Cheung, Hong Kong Handover http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/journal/vol5no1/sidney2.html
  3. ^ a b c d Sanderson, Edgar. [1897] (1897) The British Empire in the Nineteenth Century: Its Progress and Expansion at Home and Abroad. Blackie publishing. No ISBN digitalized doc from Stanford university
  4. ^ a b c d Stanford, David. [2006] (2006). Roses in December. Lulu press. ISBN 1847539661
  5. ^ Sweeting, Anthony. [1990] (1990). Education in Hong Kong, pre-1841 to 1941. HK University Press. ISBN 9622092586
  6. ^ a b R.G. Horsnall, "The MacIntosh Cathedrals", in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. 35, 1995, pp. 171-176
  7. ^ a b Chan, Shun-hing. Leung, Beatrice. [2003] (2003). Changing Church and State Relations in Hong Kong, 1950-2000. Hong Kong: HK university press. Page 24. ISBN 962-2096123
  8. ^ Rees, Laurence. Iriye, Akira. [2002] (2002). Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of WWII. Da Capo Preess. ISBN 0306811782
  9. ^ Manion, Melanie. [2004](2004). Corruption by Design: Building Clean Government in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Harvard University press. ISBN 0674014863
  10. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  11. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  12. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  13. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  14. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  15. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  16. ^ http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&tableID=001
  17. ^ HK Census. "HK Census." Statistical Table of population. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
  18. ^ HK Census. "HK Census." Statistical Table. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
  19. ^ CIA Factbook - Hong Kong
  20. ^ Buddhist and Taoist Communities, Hong Kong Tourism Board.
  21. ^ General Information - Religion marimari.com
  22. ^ Hong Kong Year Book (2006):Chapter 18 - Religion and Custom: Buddhism
  23. ^ Hong Kong Year Book (2006):Chapter 18 - Religion and Custom: Taoism
  24. ^ Hong Kong Year Book (2006):Chapter 18 - Religion and Custom: Confucianism
  25. ^ a b International Religious Freedom Report 2007 - Hong Kong
  26. ^ Hong Kong Year Book (2006):Chapter 18 - Religion and Custom: Christianity
  27. ^ LDS Newsroom - China — Hong Kong
  28. ^ "2007 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide". Retrieved 2008-08-09.

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