Hong Kong (2003) | World (2007) | |
Administrative divisions | none (special administrative region of China) | 265 nations, dependent areas, and other entities |
Age structure | 0-14 years: 17.3% (male 680,973; female 599,309)
15-64 years: 71.7% (male 2,619,929; female 2,679,430) 65 years and over: 11% (male 375,058; female 439,471) (2003 est.) |
0-14 years: 27.4% (male 931,551,498/female 875,646,416)
15-64 years: 65.1% (male 2,174,605,518/female 2,124,494,703) 65 years and over: 7.5% (male 217,451,123/female 278,474,917) (2007 est.) |
Agriculture - products | fresh vegetables; poultry, fish, pork | - |
Airports | 3 (2002) | 49,024 (2006) |
Airports - with paved runways | total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1523 m: 1 (2002) |
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Area | total: 1,092 sq km
land: 1,042 sq km water: 50 sq km |
total: 510.072 million sq km
land: 148.94 million sq km water: 361.132 million sq km note: 70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land |
Area - comparative | six times the size of Washington, DC | land area about 16 times the size of the US |
Background | Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years. | Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war). |
Birth rate | 10.71 births/1,000 population (2003 est.) | 20.09 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Budget | revenues: $22.8 billion
expenditures: $30.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY02/03) |
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Climate | tropical monsoon; cool and humid in winter, hot and rainy from spring through summer, warm and sunny in fall | a wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates |
Coastline | 733 km | 356,000 km
note: 94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan |
Constitution | Basic Law approved in March 1990 by China's National People's Congress is Hong Kong's "mini-constitution" | - |
Country name | conventional long form: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
conventional short form: Hong Kong local long form: Xianggang Tebie Xingzhengqu local short form: Xianggang abbreviation: HK |
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Currency | Hong Kong dollar (HKD) | - |
Death rate | 6.19 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.) | 8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Debt - external | $49.5 billion (2002 est.) | $43.42 trillion
note: this figure is the sum total of all countries' external debt, both public and private (2004 est.) |
Dependency status | special administrative region of China | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | chief of mission: Consul General James KEITH
consulate(s) general: 26 Garden Road, Hong Kong mailing address: PSC 461, Box 1, FPO AP 96521-0006 telephone: [852] 2523-9011 FAX: [852] 2524-0860 |
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Diplomatic representation in the US | none (special administrative region of China) | - |
Disputes - international | none | stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 319 international land boundaries separate 193 independent states and 70 dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities; ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states into separate political entities as much as history, physical terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes arbitrary and imposed boundaries; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries tend to encourage illegal cross-border activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial fragmentation and internal displacement of the estimated 6.6 million people and cross-border displacements of 8.6 million refugees around the world as of early 2006; just over one million refugees were repatriated in the same period; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed armed forces of independent states as between stateless armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and environmental degradation |
Economic aid - recipient | - | ODA, $106.4 billion (2005) |
Economy - overview | Hong Kong has a free market economy highly dependent on international trade. Natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be imported. Imports and exports, including reexports, each exceed GDP in dollar value. Even before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration on 1 July 1997 it had extensive trade and investment ties with China. Hong Kong has been further integrating its economy with China because China's growing openness to the world economy has increased competitive pressure on Hong Kong's service industries, and Hong Kong's re-export business from China is a major driver of growth. Per capita GDP compares with the level in the four big economies of Western Europe. GDP growth averaged a strong 5% in 1989-1997, but Hong Kong suffered two recessions in the past 6 years because of the Asian financial crisis in 1998 and the global downturn of 2001-2002. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak has also battered Hong Kong's economy but the resumption of strong growth began in 2003. | Global output rose by 5% in 2006, led by China (10.5%), India (8.5%), and Russia (6.6%). The 14 other successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations again experienced widely divergent growth rates; the three Baltic nations continued as strong performers, in the 7%-10% range of growth. Growth results posted by the major industrial countries varied from no gain for Italy to a strong gain by the United States (3.4%). The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that erode gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, in Iraq, in Indonesia, and in Canada. Externally, the central government is losing decisionmaking powers to international bodies, notably the EU. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from an economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. The terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 accentuated a further growing risk to global prosperity, illustrated, for example, by the reallocation of resources away from investment to anti-terrorist programs. The opening of war in March 2003 between a US-led coalition and Iraq added new uncertainties to global economic prospects. After the coalition victory, the complex political difficulties and the high economic cost of establishing domestic order in Iraq became major global problems that continued through 2006. |
Electricity - consumption | 37.12 billion kWh (2001) | 15.81 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
Electricity - exports | 1.581 billion kWh (2001) | 619.8 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - imports | 10.36 billion kWh (2001) | 633.2 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - production | 30.48 billion kWh (2001) | 17.42 trillion kWh (2005 est.) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001) |
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Elevation extremes | lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Tai Mo Shan 958 m |
lowest point: Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m
note: in the oceanic realm, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the lowest point, lying -10,924 m below the surface of the Pacific Ocean highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m |
Environment - current issues | air and water pollution from rapid urbanization | large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global warming becoming a greater concern |
Environment - international agreements | party to: Marine Dumping (associate member), Ship Pollution (associate member) | - |
Ethnic groups | Chinese 95%, other 5% | - |
Exchange rates | Hong Kong dollars per US dollar - 7.8 (2002), 7.8 (2001), 7.79 (2000), 7.76 (1999), 7.75 (1998) | - |
Executive branch | chief of state: President of China HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003)
head of government: Chief Executive TUNG Chee-hwa (since 1 July 1997) cabinet: Executive Council consists of three ex-officio members and 10 appointed members; ex-officio members are: Chief Secretary Donald TSANG Yam-kuen (since 1 May 2001), Financial Secretary Antony LEUNG (since 1 May 2001), and Secretary of Justice Elsie LEUNG (since 1 July 1997) elections: TUNG Chee-Hwa was elected to a second term in March 2002 by an 800-member election committee dominated by pro-Beijing forces; the next election is scheduled to be held in 2007 |
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Exports | NA (2001) | 63.76 million bbl/day (2004) |
Exports - commodities | electrical machinery and appliances, textiles, apparel, footwear, watches and clocks, toys, plastics, precious stones | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Exports - partners | China 34%, US 19.5%, UK 5.5%, Japan 4.8% (2002) | US 15.1%, Germany 7.4%, China 5.9%, France 4.6%, UK 4.5%, Japan 4.4% (2006) |
Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March | - |
Flag description | red with a stylized, white, five-petal bauhinia flower in the center | - |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $198.5 billion (2002 est.) | - |
GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 0.1%
industry: 13.4% services: 86.5% (2001 est.) |
agriculture: 4%
industry: 32% services: 64% (2004 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $27,200 (2002 est.) | - |
GDP - real growth rate | 2.3% (2002 est.) | 5.3% (2006 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 22 15 N, 114 10 E | - |
Geography - note | more than 200 islands | the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe |
Heliports | 2 (2002) | 1,359 (2007) |
Highways | total: 1,831 km
paved: 1,831 km unpaved: 0 km (1999 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 2.5%
highest 10%: 30.2% (2002 est.) |
Illicit drugs | Makes strenuous law enforcement efforts, but faces serious challenges in controlling transit of heroin and methamphetamine to regional and world markets; modern banking system provides a conduit for money laundering; rising indigenous use of synthetic drugs, especially among young people | cocaine: worldwide coca leaf cultivation in 2005 amounted to 208,500 hectares; Colombia produced slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide crop, followed by Peru and Bolivia; potential pure cocaine production rose to 900 from 645 metric tons in 2005 - partially due to improved methodologies used to calculate levels of production; Colombia conducts aggressive coca eradication campaign, but both Peruvian and Bolivian Governments are hesitant to eradicate coca in key growing areas; 551 metric tons of export-quality cocaine (85% pure) is documented to have been seized or destroyed in 2005; US consumption of export quality cocaine is estimated to have been in excess of 380 metric tons
opiates: worldwide illicit opium poppy cultivation reached 208,500 hectares in 2005; potential opium production of 4,990 metric tons was only a 9% decrease over 2004's highest total recorded since estimates began in mid-1980s; Afghanistan is world's primary opium producer, accounting for 90% of the global supply; Southeast Asia - responsible for 9% of global opium - saw marginal increases in production; Latin America produced 1% of global opium, but most was refined into heroin destined for the US market; if all potential opium was processed into pure heroin, the potential global production would be 577 metric tons of heroin in 2005 |
Imports | NA (2001) | 63.18 million bbl/day (2004) |
Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, transport equipment, raw materials, semimanufactures, petroleum, plastics, machinery, electrical equipment; a large share is reexported | the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services |
Imports - partners | China 37.5%, Japan 12.2%, Taiwan 7.3%, US 6.2%, Singapore 5.3%, South Korea 5% (2002) | China 9.8%, Germany 8.8%, US 8.5%, Japan 5.6% (2006) |
Independence | none (special administrative region of China) | - |
Industrial production growth rate | -9.7% (2002 est.) | 3% (2003 est.) |
Industries | textiles, clothing, tourism, banking, shipping, electronics, plastics, toys, watches, clocks | dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems |
Infant mortality rate | total: 5.63 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.44 deaths/1,000 live births female: 5.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.) |
total: 43.52 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 46.32 deaths/1,000 live births female: 40.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 3% (2002 est.) | developed countries 1% to 4% typically; developing countries 5% to 20% typically; national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from declining prices in Japan to hyperinflation in one Third World countries (Zimbabwe); inflation rates have declined for most countries for the last several years, held in check by increasing international competition from several low wage countries (2005 est.) |
International organization participation | APEC, AsDB, BIS, ESCAP (associate), ICC, ICFTU, IHO, IMO (associate), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, ISO (correspondent), WCL, WCO, WMO, WToO (associate), WTrO | - |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 17 (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | 20 sq km (1998 est.) | 2,770,980 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | Court of Final Appeal in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region | - |
Labor force | 3.52 million (2001 est.) | 3.001 billion (2005 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, and hotels 31%, financing, insurance, and real estate 13%, community and social services 12%, manufacturing 6%, transport and communications 6%, construction 5%, other 25% (2002 est.) | agriculture: 40.9%
industry: 20.6% services: 38.5% (2002 est.) |
Land boundaries | total: 30 km
border countries: China 30 km |
the land boundaries in the world total 250,708 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries
note: 44 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked |
Land use | arable land: 5.05%
permanent crops: 1.01% other: 93.94% (1998 est.) |
arable land: 13.31%
permanent crops: 4.71% other: 81.98% (2005) |
Languages | Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official | Mandarin Chinese 13.69%, Spanish 5.05%, English 4.84%, Arabic 3.23%, Hindi 2.82%, Portuguese 2.77%, Bengali 2.68%, Russian 2.27%, Japanese 1.99%, Standard German 1.49%, Wu Chinese 1.21% (2004 est.)
note: percents are for "first language" speakers only and therefore do not add to 100% |
Legal system | based on English common law | all members of the UN are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court |
Legislative branch | unicameral Legislative Council or LEGCO (60 seats; 30 indirectly elected by functional constituencies, 24 elected by popular vote, and 6 elected by an 800-member election committee; members serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 10 September 2000 (next to be held in September 2004) election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - Democratic Party 12, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong 10, Liberal Party 7, Frontier Party 5, Hong Kong Progressive Alliance 4, New Century Forum 2, Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 1, independents 19 |
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Life expectancy at birth | total population: 79.93 years
male: 77.23 years female: 82.83 years (2003 est.) |
total population: 65.82 years
male: 63.89 years female: 67.84 years (2007 est.) |
Literacy | definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 94% male: 97.1% female: 90.5% (2003 est.) |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 82% male: 87% female: 77% note: over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.) |
Location | Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China | - |
Map references | Southeast Asia | Physical Map of the World, Political Map of the World, Standard Time Zones of the World |
Maritime claims | territorial sea: 3 NM | a variety of situations exist, but in general, most countries make the following claims measured from the mean low-tide baseline as described in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: territorial sea - 12 nm, contiguous zone - 24 nm, and exclusive economic zone - 200 nm; additional zones provide for exploitation of continental shelf resources and an exclusive fishing zone; boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 nm |
Merchant marine | total: 549 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 16,176,728 GRT/27,119,764 DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 315, cargo 66, chemical tanker 15, combination bulk 2, container 86, liquefied gas 16, multi-functional large-load carrier 1, petroleum tanker 40, refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 2, short-sea passenger 1, vehicle carrier 2, includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Belgium 5, Belize 1, British Virgin Islands 1, China 115, Denmark 2, Germany 19, Greece 2, India 8, Japan 8, Liberia 1, Malaysia 7, Norway 1, Panama 2, Philippines 5, Singapore 7, South Korea 2, Taiwan 1, UK 27, Virgin Islands (UK) 1 note: (2002 est.) |
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Military - note | defense is the responsibility of China | - |
Military branches | no regular indigenous military forces; Hong Kong garrison of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) including elements of the PLA Ground Forces, PLA Navy, and PLA Air Force; these forces are under the direct leadership of the Central Military Commission in Beijing and under administrative control of the adjacent Guangzhou Military Region | - |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | NA% (FY02) | roughly 2% of gross world product (2005 est.) |
Military manpower - availability | males age 15-49: 2,033,716 (2003 est.) | - |
Military manpower - fit for military service | males age 15-49: 1,524,903 (2003 est.) | - |
Military manpower - military age | 18 years of age (2003 est.) | - |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually | males: 47,477 (2003 est.) | - |
National holiday | National Day (Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949); note - 1 July 1997 is celebrated as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day | - |
Nationality | noun: Chinese
adjective: Chinese |
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Natural hazards | occasional typhoons | large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) |
Natural resources | outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar | the rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address |
Net migration rate | 7.64 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.) | - |
Political parties and leaders | Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood [Frederick FUNG Kin-kee, chairman]; Citizens Party [Alex CHAN Kai-chung]; Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong [Jasper TSANG Yok-sing, chairman]; Democratic Party [Martin LEE Chu-ming, chairman]; Frontier Party [Emily LAU Wai-hing, chairwoman]; Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood [leader NA]; Hong Kong Progressive Alliance [Ambrose LAU Hon-chuen]; Liberal Party [James TIEN Pei-chun, chairman]; New Century Forum [NQ Ching-fai, chairman]
note: political blocs include: pro-democracy - Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, Citizens Party, Democratic Party, Frontier Party; pro-Beijing - Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Progressive Alliance, Liberal Party, New Century Forum |
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Political pressure groups and leaders | Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (pro-China); Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong; Confederation of Trade Unions (pro-democracy) [LAU Chin-shek, president; LEE Cheuk-yan, general secretary]; Federation of Hong Kong Industries; Federation of Trade Unions (pro-China) [LEE Chark-tim, president]; Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China [Szeto WAH, chairman]; Hong Kong and Kowloon Trade Union Council (pro-Taiwan); Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce; Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union [CHEUNG Man-kwong, president]; Liberal Democratic Federation [HU Fa-kuang, chairman] | - |
Population | 7,394,170 (July 2003 est.) | 6,602,224,175 (July 2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | - |
Population growth rate | 1.22% (2003 est.) | 1.167% (2007 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Hong Kong | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 7, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998) | AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA |
Railways | total: 34 km
standard gauge: 34 km 1.435-m gauge (electrified and double-tracked) note: connects to China railway system at Hong Kong-China border (2001) |
total: 1,370,782 km (2006) |
Religions | eclectic mixture of local religions 90%, Christian 10% | Christians 33.03% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.8%, Orthodox 3.42%, Anglicans 1.23%), Muslims 20.12%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.89%, Sikhs 0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.61%, non-religious 12.03%, atheists 2.36% (2004 est.) |
Sex ratio | at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.14 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2003 est.) |
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.064 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.024 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.781 male(s)/female total population: 1.014 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
Suffrage | direct election 18 years of age; universal for permanent residents living in the territory of Hong Kong for the past seven years; indirect election limited to about 100,000 members of functional constituencies and an 800-member election committee drawn from broad regional groupings, municipal organizations, and central government bodies | - |
Telephone system | general assessment: modern facilities provide excellent domestic and international services
domestic: microwave radio relay links and extensive fiber-optic network international: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean); coaxial cable to Guangzhou, China; access to 5 international submarine cables providing connections to ASEAN member nations, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Middle East, and Western Europe |
general assessment: NA
domestic: NA international: NA |
Telephones - main lines in use | 3.839 million (1999) | 1,263,367,600 (2005) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | 3.7 million (December 1999) | 2,168,433,600 (2005) |
Television broadcast stations | 4 (plus two repeaters) (1997) | NA |
Terrain | hilly to mountainous with steep slopes; lowlands in north | the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean |
Total fertility rate | 1.32 children born/woman (2003 est.) | 2.59 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate | 7.5% (2002 est.) | 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2006 est.) |
Waterways | none | 671,886 km (2004) |