Hong Kong Population 2014
Hong Kong is one of the two Special Administrative regions of China, with Macau being the other one. It is located on the south coast of China with the Pearl River Delta and the South China Sea surrounding it. Hong Kong is famous for its skyline as well as its natural harbor. It has a land mass of 1,104 km2, with a highly developed transportation network and densely populated buildings.
Hong Kong 2014 Population
At the end of 2012, Hong Kong’s population figure’s stood at 7,173,900. Today it is estimated to be 7,235,043, which makes it one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Of these figures, 93.6% consisted of ethnic Chinese while others made up the rest of the population. Foreign domestic helpers make up 4% of Hong Kong’s population.
When the British forces formally took over Hong Kong in 1841, the population was 7,541. A century later, the figure officially stood at 1,600,000. This figure fell to 500,000 in 1945, following the Battle of Hong Kong. However, ever since then, the population has steadily increased culminating in its current figure.
Hong Kong’s population at the end of 2012 was an increase of 61500 or 0.9% since the end of 2011. The natural increase in population was 48,500 whereas there was a net movement 13000 Hong Kong residents. This rate of population growth is a lot lower than it used to be (it was 1.3% in 2000) but is more in line with the recent rate of population growth.
Hong Kong Population History
Hong Kong’s population in 1950 was 2.2 million. By 2001, it increased to 6.7 million, which means the population increased more than 3 times in size. However, the rate of the growth of population has been in decline over the years. This means that over the past fifty years, Hong Kong has transitioned from a high growth phase to a low growth phase.
Large numbers of Chinese immigrated to Hong Kong in the 1850s due to the Taiping Rebellion. Several natural disasters such as floods, typhoons and famine led to many people moving to Hong Kong to escape the disasters. Despite 60,000 Chinese leaving Hong Kong in 1914 due to a fear of attack on their colony, the population increased to 530,000 in 1916 to 725,000 in 1925 to 1.6 million in 1941.
Meanwhile, in the past three decades, the fertility rate has greatly decreased. In fact, in 2001, it was 927 children per 1000 women, which was a great drop from the replacement level of 2100 children per 1000 women. This decline has been attributed to women pursuing higher studies, late marriages, higher proportion of people who never marry and an increasing participation by women in the labor force.
Hong Kong Life Expectancy
Hong Kong has a very long life expectancy for both its men and women. In fact, Hong Kong had the longest life expectancy in the world for women, which was recorded as 86.70 years in 2011. Meanwhile, the life expectancy for men was recorded at 80 years. There are several reasons for these statistics, such as residents of Hong Kong generally having an upbeat personality as well as the affordable and accessible health services provider there. In addition, financial stability is a major factor for long life expectancies there as this allows a person to remain calm instead of stressing out, which can take years of a person’s life. Most residents of Hong Kong follow a healthy diet, combined with regular exercise. In addition, the majority of the relations in Hong Kong are healthy, with love and support provided by families, all of which add to a longer life.
Hong Kong is one of the most world’s most densely populated areas, with a density of 6300 people per square kilometer. It also possesses one of the lowest birth rates in the world, at 1.11 per woman, with 1032 babies born to every 1000 fertile women in 2009.
It has a population of over 7 million people with 93.6% of the population being ethnic Chinese with Filipins and Indonesians the next biggest contributors, with each making up 1.9% of the population. The average marriage age in Hong Kong is 30 years for males and 27 for females. 57.8% of the population is married with over 3 million people having said their vows. The never married citizens make up 32% of the population.
Hong Kong’s literacy rate is 93.5% with 96.9% males and 89.6% females are literate according to a consensus taken in 2002.
Hong Kong Population Projections
Hong Kong currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. It is estimated that by 2033, 26.8% of the population will be above 65 years, which is an increase of 12.1% from 2005. With greater emphasis laid on earning more money and pursuing higher education, more and more people are opting to not have a child, which has resulted in the rate of population growth steadily decreasing over the years. Hong Kong’s population is expected to reach 8.469 million by 2041, with 52100 births and 82,400 deaths predicted by The Census and Statistics Department. It expects over 30% of the population to be above 65 by 2041.
Due to the low birthrate, the population increase will not be significant over the years. Therefore, to boost population the government is taking various steps, one of which is to convince people from the Mainland to migrate to Hong Kong. In order for these immigrants to be productive and contribute to society, the government is starting programs based on helping them settle and adjust to life in Hong Kong.
Another step the government has been taking is encouraging people to have bigger families. To this effect, there have been calls for increasing the government’s system of providing free education to children up to the age of 9, to the age of 15, in order to reduce the financial burden on the parents. In addition, calls for subsidizing medical and nursery services are being made to encourage more parents to have children in order to boost the population.
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Population Data via United Nations