Hong Kong

[Country map of Hong Kong]

Map ©1996 NGS Cartographic Division. Developed in association with GeoSystems Global Corp. World Map

(dependent territory of the UK)

Geography

Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China

Map references: Southeast Asia

Area:
total area: 1,040 sq km
land area: 990 sq km
comparative area: slightly less than six times the size ofWashington, DC

Land boundaries: total 30 km, China 30 km

Coastline: 733 km

Climate: tropical monsoon; cool and humid in winter, hot and rainy from spring through summer, warm and sunny in fall

Terrain: hilly to mountainous with steep slopes; lowlands in north

Natural resources: outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar

Land use:
arable land: 7%
permanent crops: 1%
meadows and pastures: 1%
forest and woodland: 12%
other: 79%

Irrigated land: 20 sq km (1989)


People

Population: 5,542,869 (July1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (female 499,460; male 549,734)
15-64 years: 70% (female 1,866,540; male 2,016,684)
65 years and over: 11% (female 331,391; male 279,060) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.12% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 12.02 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 6.02 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -7.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 5.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 80.18 years
male: 76.78 years
female: 83.78 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Chinese
adjective: Chinese

Ethnic divisions: Chinese 95%, other 5%

Religions: eclectic mixture of local religions90%, Christian 10%

Languages: Chinese (Cantonese), English

Literacy: age 15 and over has ever attended school (1971)
total population: 77%
male: 90%
female: 64%

Labor force: 2.8 million (1990)
by occupation: manufacturing 28.5%, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, and hotels 27.9%, services 17.7%, financing, insurance, and real estate 9.2%, transport and communications 4.5%, construction 2.5%, other 9.7% (1989)


Government

Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Hong Kong

Abbreviation: HK

Digraph: HK

Type: dependent territory of the UK scheduled to revert to China in 1997

Capital: Victoria

Administrative divisions: none (dependent territory of the UK)

Independence: none (dependent territory of the UK; the UK signed an agreement with China on 19 December1984 to return Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997; in the joint declaration, China promises to respect Hong Kong's existing social and economic systems and lifestyle)

National holiday: Liberation Day, 29 August (1945)

Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice; new Basic Law approved in March 1990 in preparation for 1997

Legal system: based on English common law

Suffrage: direct election 21 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 professionals of electoral college and functional constituencies


Economy

Overview: Hong Kong has a bustling free market economy with few tariffs or nontariff barriers. Natural resources are limited, and food and raw materials must be imported. Manufacturing accounts for about 17% of GDP. Goods and services exports accountfor about 50% of GDP. Real GDP growth averaged a remarkable 8% in 1987-88, slowed to 3.0% in 1989-90, and picked up to 4.2% in 1991, 5.0% in 1992, 5.2% in 1993, and 5.5% in 1994. Unemployment, which has been declining since the mid-1980s, is now about 2%. A shortage of labor continues to put upward pressure on prices and the cost of living. Prospects for 1995-96 remain bright so long as major trading partners continue to be reasonably prosperous and so long as investors feel China will support free market practices after the takeover in 1997.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $136.1 billion (1994 est.)

National product real growth rate: 5.5% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $24,530 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 8.5% (1994)

Unemployment rate: 1.9% (1994 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $19.2 billion
expenditures: $19.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY93/94)

Exports: $168.7 billion (including re-exports of $121.0 billion )(f.o.b., 1994 est.)
commodities: clothing, textiles, yarn and fabric, footwear, electrical appliances, watches and clocks, toys
partners: China 32%, US 23%, Germany 5%, Japan 5%, UK 3% (1993 est.)

Imports: $160 billion (c.i.f., 1994 est.)
commodities: foodstuffs, transport equipment, raw materials, semimanufactures, petroleum; a large share is re-exported
partners:China 36%, Japan 19%, Taiwan 9%, US 7% (1993 est.)

External debt: none (1993)

Industrial production: growth rate 2% (1993 est.)

Electricity:
capacity: 8,930,000 kW
production: 33 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 4,628 kWh (1993)

Industries: textiles, clothing, tourism, electronics, plastics, toys, watches, clocks

Agriculture: minor role in the economy; local farmers produce 26% fresh vegetables, 27% live poultry; 8% of land area suitable for farming

Currency: 1 Hong Kong dollar (HK$) = 100 cents

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March


Transportation

Railroads:
total: 35 km
standard gauge: 35 km 1.435-m gauge

Highways:
total: 1,100 km
paved: 794 km
unpaved: gravel, crushed stone, earth 306 km

Ports: Hong Kong

Merchant marine:
total: 217 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,657,749 GRT/13,181,496 DWT
ships by type: bulk 116, cargo 29, chemical tanker 2, combination bulk 2, combination ore/oil 6, container 28, liquefied gas tanker 5, oil tanker 18, refrigerated cargo 7, short-sea passenger 1, vehicle carrier 3
note: a flag of convenience registry; includes 15 countries among which are UK with 53 ships, China 15, Bermuda 7, Japan 6, Belgium 3, Germany 3, Greece 3, Canada 2, Netherlands 2, Singapore 2

Airports:
total: 3
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways under 914 m: 2


Flag by Dream Maker Software, Inc.
Information obtained from CIA, The World Factbook 1995