V-Explanatory Notes on Main
Statistical Indicators
|
Crude birth rate refers to the number of live births occurred during
a calendar year to the mid-year population of that year. It is usually
expressed in terms of 1000 population. |
Crude death rate refers to the number of deaths occurred during
a calendar year to the mid-year population of that year. It is usually
expressed in terms of 1000 population. |
Expectation of life at birth refers to the average number of years of life that a
male/female born in a given year can expect to live if he/she were subjected
to the prevalent mortality conditions as reflected by the set of age sex
specific mortality rates for that year. |
Mid-year population
before 1996 was compiled using the “extended de
facto” approach. It includes Hong
Kong Permanent and Non-permanent Residents and visitors who are in |
Total fertility rate refers to the average number of children that
would be born alive to 1000 women during their lifetime if they were to pass
through all their childbearing years following the age-specific fertility
rates of a given year. |
Infant mortality rate refers to the number of deaths aged
under one occurred during a calendar year per 1000 live births in the same
year. |
Labour force
refers to the land-based non-institutional
population aged 15 and over who satisfy the criteria for inclusion in the
employed population or the unemployed population. |
Labour force participation rate refers to the proportion of labour force in the
land-based non-institutional population aged 15 and over. |
Employed population
consists of persons aged 15 and over who have been at work for pay or profit
during the seven days before enumeration or who have had formal job
attachment. Unpaid family workers and persons who were on leave/holiday
during the seven days before enumeration are included. |
Unemployed population comprises all those persons aged 15 and over who
have not had a job, have not performed any work for pay or profit, have been
available for work during the seven days before enumeration and have sought
work during the thirty days before enumeration. It also includes persons
without a job who have sought work but unavailable for work because of
temporary sickness; and persons without a job who have been available for
work but have not sought work because they (I) have made arrangements to take
up a new job or to start business at a subsequent date; or (II) were
expecting to return to their original jobs; or (III) believed that work was
not available to them (discouraged workers). |
Unemployment rate refers to the proportion of unemployed persons
in the labour force. |
Underemployed population comprises those employed persons who have
involuntarily worked less than thirty-five hours during the seven days before
enumeration and have sought additional work during the thirty days before
enumeration, or have not sought additional work but have been available for
additional work during the seven days before enumeration. |
Underemployment rate refers to the proportion of underemployed persons in the
labour force. |
Real wage index indicates changes in the purchasing power of the
amount of money earned as wages by employees up to supervisory level and is
obtained by deflating the nominal wage index by the Consumer Price Index(A). |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of the total value of
production of all resident producing units of a country or territory in a
specified period, before deducting allowance for consumption of fixed
capital. |
Per capita GDP of a country or territory is obtained
by dividing total GDP in a year by the corresponding population of that
country or territory in the same year. |
Gross National Product
(GNP) refers to the total income of
the residents of a country or region from engaging in various economic
activities, irrespective of whether the economic activities are carried out
in the economic territory of the country or region or not. In other words,
the gross national product should include the income of the residents engaged
in various economic activities within or outside the economic territory of
the country or region, but exclude the income of non-residents engaged in
economic activities in the economic territory of the country or region. The
following formula is used in the calculation of the gross national product: |
GNP = Gross Domestic Product |
+Factor income earned by residents from outside the
economic territory of the country or region |
-Factor income earned by non-residents from within
the economic territory of the country or region. |
Per capita GNP of a country or a region refers to
the gross national product of the country or region in a certain statistical
year divided by the total population in the same year. |
The components of factor income are mainly
classified into investment income and compensation of employees. Investment
income includes direct investment income, portfolio income and other
investment income. |
The items “Balance of
Payments accounts ”until "Reserve assets” are applicable to balance of
payments account (Table 22-10): |
Balance of Payments (BoP) account is a statistical
statement that systematically summarizes, for a specific time period, the
economic transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. A complete BoP
account comprises two broad accounts: (a) Current Account; (b) Capital and
Financial Account. |
Current account mainly records external
transactions of real resources, including exports and imports of goods and
services, income receivable and payable abroad, and current transfers to and
from abroad. |
Exports and imports of services refer to the sales to and purchases from the
rest of the world of non-factor services. |
Income flows in the current
account cover investment incomes and compensation of
employees. |
Current transfers are transactions in which residents of an
economy provides real or financial resources that are immediately or shortly
consumed by residents of other economies without receiving equivalent values
in return. |
Capital account measures
external transactions in capital transfers, and in acquisition or disposal of
non-produced, non-financial assets. |
Capital transfers
are transfers of ownership of a fixed asset
or the forgiveness of a liability without receiving any economic value in
return. |
Financial account records transactions in
financial assets and liabilities between residents and non-residents. It shows how an economy's external
transactions are financed.
Transactions in the financial account are classified into direct
investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives, other investment and
reserve assets. |
Direct investment refers to external investment in
which an investor of an economy acquires a lasting interest and an effective
control over the management of an enterprise located in another economy. |
Portfolio investment refers to investment in
non-resident equity securities and debt securities (e.g. bonds and notes,
money market instruments), for which the investors have no lasting interest
or influence in the management of the companies they invest. |
Financial derivatives are financial instruments that are linked to
a specific financial instrument or indicator or commodity, and through which
specific financial risks can be traded in financial markets (including on
Exchange and over the counter) in their own right. |
Other investment refers to other financial claims
on and liabilities to non-residents that are not classified as direct
investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives or reserve assets. |
Reserve assets consist of external assets that
are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities of an economy
for directly financing payment imbalances and for indirectly regulating the
magnitude of such imbalances through intervention in foreign exchange markets
to affect the currency exchange rate of that economy. In the case of |
Index of industrial production measures
the changes in local manufacturing output in real terms, i.e. changes in the
volume of local production after discounting the effect of price changes. |
Assignments of building units refer to documents which effect the transfer
of ownership of property of undivided shares of a lot, i.e. building units. |
Buildings with consents to
commence work refer to buildings with consents to commence
building works issued by the Buildings Department. Such consents" are
issued to private development projects (including Hong Kong Housing Society's
projects) and Hong Kong Housing Authority's development projects under the
Private Sector Participation Scheme, except small houses in the New Territories where
consents" are not required. |
Usable floor area is defined as the aggregate of the
areas of the floor or floors in a story or a building excluding any
staircases, kitchens and any space occupied by machinery for any lift,
air-conditioning system or similar service provided for the building. |
Tenure of accommodation refers to the terms or conditions under which
accommodation is held by a household. The different terms are defined as
follows: |
Owner-occupier
refers
to a household which owns the quarters it occupies. |
Sole tenant
refers to a household which rents the whole
quarters it occupies from someone who lives outside the quarters without
sharing it with other household(s) or subletting. |
Co-tenant
refers to two or more households each of which
rents part of a quarters from someone who lives outside the quarters. |
Main tenant
refers to a household which rents the whole
quarters it occupies from someone who lives outside the quarters and sublets
part of it to other household(s). |
Sub-tenant
refers
to a household which rents part of a quarters from someone who lives in the
same quarters. |
Rent free
refers to a household which occupies an
accommodation free, with or without the owner's permission. This excludes
households occupying accommodation provided by employers. |
Provided by employer refers to a household which occupies an
accommodation provided by the employer of one of the household members. This
also includes households occupying quarters leased from employers at a
nominal rent. If a household member uses housing allowance given by his
employer for renting accommodation, the tenure is not considered as provided
by employer. |
Inward and outward
movements of passenger trains refer to the through train services operated
by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC)
between |
Inward and outward
movements of motor vehicles refer to traffic through the Control Points at
Lok Ma Chau, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok to and from the
mainland of |
Motor vehicle licensing conveys the right for a vehicle to be driven on
a road. The valid period is either four months or a year. The total vehicles
licensed figure refers to end of the year position. |
Hotel room occupancy rate is compiled based on daily number of rooms
available for sale only. Rooms under repair or being refurbished are
excluded. |
Domestic exports are the natural produce of |
Re-exports
are products which have previously been imported into Hong Kong and
which are re-exported without having undergone in Hong Kong a manufacturing
process which has changed permanently the shape, nature, form or utility of
the product. Their values are recorded on f.o.b
(free-on-board) basis. |
Imports
are goods which have been produced or manufactured in
places outside the jurisdiction of |
Exports to the mainland of |
Imports from the mainland
of China related to outward processing refer
to processed goods imported from the mainland of China of which all or part
of the raw materials or semi-manufactures have been under contractual
arrangement exported from or through Hong Kong to the mainland of China for
processing. |
Re-exports of the mainland
of China origin to other places involving outward processing in the mainland
of China refer to processed goods re-exported through
Hong Kong of which all or part of the raw materials or semi-manufactures have
been exported from or through Hong Kong to the mainland of China for
processing with a contractual arrangement for subsequent re-importation of
the processed goods into Hong Kong. |
The items “Direct investmen” until “Flow of direct investment” are
applicable to direct investment (Table 22-24 and 22-25): |
Direct investment represents investment which
allows investors in one economy, on a long term basis, to influence or have
an effective voice in the management of an enterprise in another economy. For statistical purpose, an effective
voice is taken as equivalent to a holding of 10% or more of the equity in an
enterprise. Direct investment
comprises equity capital, reinvested earnings and other capital. Equity capital means equity in
branches, stock and shares in subsidiaries and associates. Reinvested earnings consist of
undistributed branch profits and the investors share
of earnings of their subsidiaries or associates not distributed as
dividends. Other capital involves
inter-company debt transactions.
These include short-term or long-term borrowing and lending of funds
between parent companies and their subsidiaries, associates and branches. |
Inward direct
investment refers to direct investment in a |
Outward direct investment refers to direct investment by a |
Position of direct
investment refers to the value of investment
abroad or investment received from abroad of |
Flow of direct investment refers to the additions/withdrawal of
investment abroad or investment received from abroad of |
The Loan Fund is used to finance schemes of the
HKSAR Government loans, such as housing loans and students
loans. The main sources of income are appropriations from the General Revenue
Account, loan repayments and interest on loans. |
Effective exchange rate indices(EERI) measure movements in the
weighted average of the exchange rate of Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)against the currencies of major
trading partners of |
Exchange rates between |
Authorized institutions include licensed banks, restricted license banks
and deposit-taking companies. |
Licensed banks
can accept deposits of any size and
maturity. Before |
Restricted license banks can accept time deposits in amounts of not
less than HK$500,000 with any term of maturity. There is no restriction on
interest rate payable. |
Deposit-taking companies can accept time deposits in amounts of not
less than HK$100, 000 with a term of maturity of at least three months. There
is no restriction on interest rate payable. |
Foreign currency swap deposits refer to deposits involving customers buying
foreign currencies in the spot market and placing them as deposits with
authorized institutions, while at the same time entering into a contract to
sell such foreign currencies (principal plus interest) forward in line with
the maturity of such deposits. For most analytical purpose, they should be
regarded as |
Money supply definition 1
(M1) refers to the sum of legal tender notes
and coins held by the public plus customers' demand deposits placed with
licensed banks. |
Money supply definition 2
(M2) refers to the sum of M1 plus customers'
savings and time deposits with licensed banks, plus negotiable certificates
of deposits issued by licensed banks held by non-authorized institutions. |
Money supply definition 3
(M3) refers
to the sum of M2 plus customer deposits with restricted license banks and
deposit-taking companies plus negotiable certificates of deposits issued by
restricted license banks and deposit-taking companies held by non-authorized
institutions. |
Hang Seng
Index launched on |
Consumer Price Index (CPI) summarizes changes in the price
level of consumer goods and services purchased by households. It measures the
change over time in the total cost of a given basket of goods and services.
Its year-on-year rate of change is widely used as an indicator of inflation
affecting consumers. The year-on-year rate of change is the percentage
increase or decrease in the current index compared to that in the same period
of preceding year. |
Different CPIs are compiled by the Census and
Statistics Department of the Government of HKSAR to reflect the impact of
consumer price changes on households in different expenditure ranges. The CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) (CPI (C)was named Hang Sheng CPI up to the reference month of June 1999.) are
compiled based on the expenditure patterns of households in the relatively
low, medium and relatively high expenditure ranges. A Composite CPI is
compiled based on the expenditure patterns of all households taken together
to reflect the impact of consumer price changes on the household sector as a
whole. |
The expenditure weights of the CPIs are updated once
every five years. The expenditure weights currently in use are derived from
the results of the Household Expenditure Survey conducted in 1994/95. |
Educational attainment refers to the highest level of education ever
attained by a person in school or other educational institution, regardless
of whether he/she had completed the course. Only formal courses are counted
as educational attainment. A formal course shall be one that lasts for at
least one academic year, requires specific academic qualification for
entrance (except degree course offered by the Open Learning Institute of Hong
Kong, i.e. the present Open University of Hong Kong) and includes
examinations or specific academic assessment procedures. |
Kindergarten
refers to all classes in kindergarten. |
Non-degree course refers to all higher diploma/endorsement
certificate courses in technical institutes/technical colleges (technical
institutes and technical colleges were merged as the Hong Kong Institute of
Vocational Education in 1999)/polytechnics (the present universities), associateship and other non-associateship
courses in polytechnics (the present universities) and other post-secondary
colleges. Certificate/diploma courses in colleges/institute of education and
in the |
Degree course
refers
to all first degree courses and post-graduate courses in tertiary educational
institutions in |
Social Security Schemes aims to provide for the basic and special
needs of the members of our community who are in needs of financial or
material assistance. The non-contributory social security system comprises:
the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, the Social Security
Allowance Scheme, the Criminal and Law Enforcement Injuries Compensation
Scheme, the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance Scheme and Emergency Relief. |
The Comprehensive Social
Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme (known as Public Assistance (PA) Scheme
before 1 July 1993), which is means-tested, is designed to
provide financial assistance to bring the income of needy individuals or
families up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs. |
The Social Security
Allowance (SSA) Scheme (known as Special Needs Allowance (SNA) Scheme before |
The Criminal and Law
Enforcement Injuries Compensation (CLEIC) Scheme provides cash assistance to victims of crimes of
violence and law enforcement acts (or to their dependants in case of death)
on a non-means-tested basis. |
The Traffic Accident
Victims Assistance (TAVA) Scheme provides speedy cash assistance to road traffic accident victims, or
their dependants in the case of death. It is a non-means-tested scheme which
does not take into account the element of fault in causing the accident. Payments covers only personal injury and death but not
damage to property. |
Emergency relief is to help victims of natural and
other disasters by means of material aid, including hot meals or dry rations
and other essential articles. |
Offenders refer to persons arrested for crime, whether or
not they are prosecuted. Persons arrested for crime who are between the ages
of 7 and 15 are called juvenile offenders and those of the ages between 16
and 20 are called young person offenders. |