Hong Kong Fact Sheets/Population (April 2015)

by Government of Hong Kong

HONG KONG: THE FACTS

Population

Population Size: At mid-2014, the population of Hong Kong was 7.24 million, including 7.03 million Usual Residents and 0.22 million Mobile Residents.

During the period 2010 to 2014, the population grew at an average annual rate of 0.8%. Population in these years was as follows:

Year	Mid-year population	Annual rate of increase	Sex ratio (males per 1 000 females)
2010	7 024 200	0.7	883
2011	7 071 600	0.7	876
2012	7 154 600	1.2	869
2013	7 187 500	0.5	864
2014	7 241 700	0.8	858

Distribution by Area: At mid-2014, the population was distributed geographically as follows:

Area	% of total population
Hong Kong Island		17.5
Kowloon		30.3
New Territories (including marine)		52.5
Total		100.0

Population Density^[‡]: Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. The land population density as at mid-2014 stood at 6 690 persons per square kilometre, and Kwun Tong, with 57 250 persons per square kilometre, was the most densely populated district among the District Council districts.

^‡ ↑ ⁠Excluding marine population and area of reservoirs.

Age and Sex Structure: At mid-2014, there were 858 males per 1 000 females. The median age of the total population was 42.8. The age and sex structure of the population was given as follows:

Age Group	Male				Female				Total
	Number		%		Number		%		Number		%
0–14	415 200		5.7		389 200		5.4		804 400		11.1
15–24	421 400		5.8		413 800		5.7		835 200		11.5
25–34	457 200		6.3		639 800		8.8		1 097 000		15.1
35–44	466 500		6.4		673 000		9.3		1 139 500		15.7
45–54	568 500		7.9		679 600		9.4		1 248 100		17.2
55–64	519 300		7.2		532 300		7.4		1 051 600		14.5
65 and over	497 000		6.9		568 900		7.9		1 065 900		14.7
Total	3 345 100		46.2		3 896 600		53.8		7 241 700		100.0

Births and Deaths: Fertility rate in Hong Kong has continued to remain at a low level. It has also attained a very low level of mortality by international standards. Birth and death rates are given as follows:

Year	Crude birth rate (per 1 000 population)	Total fertility rate (per 1 000 women)[λ]	Crude death rate (per 1 000 population)	Expectation of life at birth for males (years)	Expectation of life at birth for females (years)	Infant mortality rate (per 1 000 live births)
2010	12.6	1 127	6.0	80.1	86.0	1.7
2011	13.5	1 204	6.0	80.3	86.7	1.3
2012	12.8	1 285	6.1	80.7	86.4	1.5
2013	7.9	1 124	6.0	81.1	86.7	1.8
2014[1]	8.6	1 235	6.2	81.2	86.7	1.6

^λ ↑  Total fertility rate refers to the average number of children that would be born alive to 1 000 women during their lifetime if they were to pass through their childbearing ages 15-49 experiencing the age specific fertility rates prevailing in a given year. These figures have been compiled using a population denominator which has excluded female foreign domestic helpers.

The birth rate remained low (12.6 live births per 1 000 population in 2010 to 8.6^[1] in 2014). Moreover, according to the total fertility rate, 1 000 women in 2014 would bear, on average, 1 235^[1] children in their lifetime as compared with 1 127 children in 2010.

In 2014, the death rate was 6.2^[1] per 1 000 population. The expectation of life at birth was 81.2^[1] years for males and 86.7^[1] years for females, compared against the corresponding figures of 80.1 and 86.0 years in 2010.

There was a decline in the infant mortality rate from 1.7 per 1 000 live births in 2010 to 1.6^[1] in 2014. The decline reflected a continual improvement in maternal and child health services.

Education: The educational level of the population of Hong Kong has improved appreciably over the past 5 years. The following table compares the educational attainment of the population aged 15 and over^[2] for 2010 and 2014:

Educational attainment	% of population aged 15 and over
		2010		2014
Primary and below		22.1		19.6
Secondary[**]		52.0		50.5
Post-secondary		25.8		29.8
Total		100.0		100.0

^** ↑  Persons with educational attainment at secondary level refer to those with Secondary 1 to Secondary 7 education or equivalent level.

Income: The median monthly domestic household income^[2] for 2014 was $23,500. The distribution of domestic households in Hong Kong by monthly household income^[2] was as follows:

Monthly household income ($)	% of total domestic households
Under 4,000		5.4
4,000–5,999		5.3
6,000–7,999		4.8
8,000–9,999		4.9
10,000–14,999		11.3
15,000–19,999		10.6
20,000–24,999		9.9
25,000–29,999		7.7
30,000–34,999		7.3
35,000–39,999		5.4
40,000–44,999		4.6
45,000–49,999		3.5
50,000–59,999		5.5
60,000–79,999		6.1
80,000–99,999		2.9
100,000 and over		4.7
Total		100.0

Labour Force Participation Rate: The size of the total labour force in Hong Kong^[2] for 2014 was 3.88 million. This represented 61.1% of the total population aged 15 and over^[2]. The following table shows the labour force participation rates of the population by age and sex^[2]:

Age group	Male (%)		Female (%)
15–19		11.1		12.5
20–24		61.5		61.4
25–29		93.4		86.3
30–34		96.6		81.5
35–39		96.4		76.4
40–44		95.7		73.7
45–49		93.8		72.4
50–54		91.8		64.2
55–59		81.4		48.8
60–64		56.2		26.2
65 and over		14.3		3.7
Overall		68.8		54.6

Occupation: The distribution of the employed population in Hong Kong by occupation^[2] for 2014 was as follows:

Occupation[α]	% of the employed population
Managers and administrators		10.5
Professionals		7.5
Associate professionals		19.9
Clerical support workers		13.8
Service and sales workers		16.8
Craft and related workers		6.7
Plant and machine operators and assemblers		4.7
Elementary occupations		20.0
Others		0.1
Total		100.0

^α ↑  Based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO-08).

Housing: The distribution of the land-based non-institutional population of Hong Kong by type of housing^[2] for 2014 was as follows:

Type of housing	% of land-based non-institutional population
Public rental housing		29.3
Subsidised home ownership housing		16.6
Private permanent housing		53.5
Temporary housing		0.6
Total		100.0

The following notes are used in this fact sheet :

There may be a slight discrepancy between the sum of individual items and the total as shown in the tables due to rounding.

1. Provisional figures.
2. Figures are compiled based on data collected in the General Household Survey from January to December of the year concerned as well as the mid-year population estimates by District Council district compiled jointly by the Census and Statistics Department and an inter-departmental Working Group on Population Distribution Projections. The General Household Survey covers the land-based non-institutional population of Hong Kong.

Published by the Information Services Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government GovHK Website: http://www.gov.hk Information contained in this publication may be freely used. No acknowledgement is necessary.

Census and Statistics Department Website: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk

April 2015