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The provisional figure for the population of Hong Kong at the end of
2003 was estimated at 6 810 100, up 0.4 per cent over a year earlier.
This was due to 9 700 more births than deaths and a net inflow of 14 300
residents. Over the period 1998-2003, the average annual growth rate of
the population was 0.7 per cent.
In 2003, the birth rate3 was estimated
at seven per 1 000, lower than that of eight per 1 000 in 1998. Yet the
death rate held stable at about five per 1 000. Consequently, the rate
of natural increase dropped from three to less than two per 1 000 over
the same period.
Ageing of the population has continued. While the
proportion of the people aged under 15 fell from 18 per cent in 1998 to
16 per cent in 2003, the proportion of people aged 65 and over rose from
11 per cent to 12 per cent. Correspondingly, the median age of the population
rose from 35 to 38 over the same period.
The age composition of the population can be reflected
from the dependency ratio. The ratio of people aged under 15 and aged
65 and over to the population of working age (aged 15-64), i.e. the overall
dependency ratio, dropped from 394 per 1 000 in 1998 to 378 per 1 000
in 2003. This was attributable to a decline in the proportion of young
persons aged under 15, which more than offset an increase in the proportion
of older persons aged 65 and over in the same period.
Hong Kong continued to be one of the world's most
densely populated places, with its land population density estimated at
6 300 persons per square kilometre in mid-2003. (More statistics are
given in the Appendices).
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3 |
The birth rate refers to the number of known live births
occurring in a calendar year per thousand mid-year population. |
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