According to the statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department today (February 13), the provisional estimate of the Hong Kong population was 7 409 800 at end-2017, representing an increase of 32 700 or 0.4% from 7 377 100 at end-2016 (Table 1).

     Population increase comprises natural increase (i.e. births less deaths) and net movement of Hong Kong residents (i.e. inflow less outflow). The natural increase of the population from end-2016 to end-2017 amounted to 10 000, with 56 600 births and 46 600 deaths. Over the same period, there was a net movement of 22 600 persons, of which 47 000 were inflow of One-way Permit holders and 24 300 were net outflow of other Hong Kong residents.

     The Hong Kong population is measured on the definition of Resident Population, which comprises Usual Residents and Mobile Residents. Among the total population at end-2017, 7 182 600 (provisional) were Usual Residents and 227 200 (provisional) were Mobile Residents.
 
     "Usual Residents" include two categories of people: (1) Hong Kong Permanent Residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least three months during the six months before or for at least three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point; and (2) Hong Kong Non-permanent Residents who are in Hong Kong at the reference time-point.

     "Mobile Residents" are Hong Kong Permanent Residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least one month but less than three months during the six months before or for at least one month but less than three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point.

     The revised figure for the mid-year population for 2017 was 7 391 700. The number of Usual Residents was revised to 7 172 800 and the number of Mobile Residents to 218 900. The population growth rate from mid-2016 to mid-2017 was also revised to 0.8%.

     The population figures for recent years are shown in Table 2.

     Under the current practice, the latest population figure is released on a provisional basis in each round. The revised figure will be released six months later. In other words, while the provisional population figure for end-2017 is released today, the corresponding revised figure will be released in August 2018.

Ends/Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Issued at HKT 16:30

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