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The Statistics Advisory Board held a regular meeting on November 23 to review the main scope of government statistical work and its recent developments.
At the meeting, Members were informed of the findings of a study on the gender imbalance situation in Hong Kong based on the results of the 1996 Population By-census, the 2001 Population Census as well as other administrative statistics. The factors accounting for such an imbalance and its implications were also discussed.
An apparent trend has been observed that there are more never married males than never married females in the prime marriageable ages 20-49. "However, past trend shows that it is common for males marrying females of younger ages. The median ages at first marriage for males and females in 2004 were 31.1 and 28.1 respectively, i.e. a difference of three years. If never married males are compared with never married females three years younger, a different pattern regarding gender imbalance will be discerned. There will be a shortfall of never married males, in particular for those in the age bracket of 40-49, when compared with never married females three years younger," said Mr H W Fung, Commissioner for Census and Statistics and Chairman of the Statistics Advisory Board.
Other factors which might have caused a decrease in the proportion of now married females were also deliberated. The level of educational attainment of females has improved significantly over the past two decades. This might render them harder to find male marriage partners as there is a strong inclination for men to marry women of comparable or lower educational attainment. Furthermore, there is an increasing trend of males from Hong Kong marrying females from the mainland of China. Among the some 41 000 marriages registered in Hong Kong in 2004, some 13 000 involved Hong Kong males marrying females from the Mainland. Furthermore, another 7 800 Hong Kong males obtained their Certificate of Absence of Marriage Records for getting married in the Mainland. "The significant decline in the proportion of now married females has been one major cause of the drop in fertility rates, apart from the decline in marital fertility rates (i.e. the fertility rate after marriage)," said Mr Fung.
Members were briefed on the revamping of the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) Website. Scheduled for launching in end-November, the revamped website would provide contents with further enriched information, presented using a thematic approach and more sophisticated navigational features. A number of new value-added services would also be introduced, including map-based presentation of data with geographical breakdown using Scalar Vector Graphics (SVG) technology; provision of latest information and statistical releases of the C&SD using the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) information feeds; and customisation services for producing tailor-made statistical tables in accordance with specifications of individual users. In addition, dedicated corners for survey respondents, media workers, students and importers/exporters will be set up to better meet the needs of different targeted user groups.
Also discussed at the meeting was the 2005 round of the International Comparison Program (ICP), of which Hong Kong was one of the 160 participating economies. The ICP, coordinated by the World Bank, was a major global statistical initiative for deriving data for measuring Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) among different currencies, which would enable a better cross-economy comparison of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and some other important economic aggregates.
Members were told that, in the light of globalisation of the world's economy, there was an increasing need by governments and international organisations to understand the phenomena of international business operations and to monitor the performance of foreign affiliates that fell outside the realm of traditional economic statistics. In this connection, the C&SD had recently embarked on studies relating to the statistical framework for measuring economic activities of foreign affiliates in Hong Kong. Members were briefed on the results of the trial compilation of the statistics on the economic contribution of foreign affiliates in Hong Kong.
At the meeting, the Board also reviewed other statistical developments since the previous meeting, including the progress of the planning work for the 2006 Population By-census; enhancements to statistics on asset management in Hong Kong; the latest situation regarding the compilation of science and technology statistics and a collection of statistical indicators for describing a knowledge-based economy.
The Statistics Advisory Board is a non-statutory advisory body which advises the Commissioner for Census and Statistics on matters pertaining to official statistical work. The terms of reference and composition of the Board can be found on the C&SD Website (http://www.censtatd.gov.hk). Agenda of the recent meetings of the Board together with the press releases on key issues discussed are also posted there.
Ends/Thursday, November 24, 2005
Issued at HKT 15:30
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