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Hong Kong at a Glance

Geography

Located to the southeast of Mainland China adjoining the province of Guangdong, with the Pearl River delta to the west and the South China Sea to the east, Hong Kong covers 1,104 sq km, 40% of which is country park and nature reserves. It consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories, which includes 262 outlying islands. Less than 25% of Hong Kong land is developed.

Climate

With a subtropical climate, temperatures can drop below 10 degrees Celsius in winter and top 31 degrees Celsius in summer. It is hot, humid and rainy from spring to summer, cool and dry in winter, and warm, sunny and dry in autumn. Average annual rainfall is 2,180 mm, and the driest month is January.

People

At the start of 2012, Hong Kong was home to approximately 7.1 million residents, with a population density of 6,480 people per sq km. Roughly 95% of Hong Kongers are ethnic Chinese, though there are also substantial numbers of Indonesians (148,000), Filipinos (141,000) and Thais (28,000).

Language

Cantonese, Mandarin and English are the official spoken languages of Hong Kong, while Chinese (traditional) and English are the official written languages. English is the language of legal, finance and business sectors. Cantonese speakers make up 89% of the population, Putonghua speakers 1.1%, other Chinese dialect speakers 5.8%, English speakers 3.1% and other language speakers 1.3%.

Economy

Hong Kong is the world’s 11th largest trading economy, with free trade, low taxation and mostly minimum government intervention. The economy is largely service-based and increasingly closely integrated with Mainland China. For 2011, GDP per capita was US$49,800, with a labour force of 3.7 million. The currency is the Hong Kong dollar (HKD or HK$).

Government

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, following the ‘one country, two systems’ principle. The HKSAR’s constitutional document, the Basic Law, ensures that the current political situation will remain in effect for 50 years. The rights of people in Hong Kong are based on the impartial rule of law and an independent judiciary, while the Head of Government is the Chief Executive (the current holder is Leung Chun-ying), who oversees the semi-elected 60-seat Legislative Council.

Religion

There are a large number of religious groups in Hong Kong, including Buddhists and Taoists (700,000), Catholics (355,000), Protestants (320,000), Muslims (90,000), Hindus (40,000) and Sikhs (10,000), as well as a small Jewish community. Places of worship for all of the above can be found across the city.