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 their childbearing ages 15-49 experiencing the age specific
fertility rates prevailing in 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 those persons aged 15 and over who have
been at work for pay or profit during the seven days before enumeration or have
had formal job attachment. Unpaid family workers and employed persons who have
been 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 have not been available 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) believe that work is not available
to them (persons in (III) refer to “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 but have been available for additional work
during the seven days before enumeration. Following this definition, employed
persons taking no-pay leave due to slack work during the seven days before
enumeration are also classified as underemployed if they worked less than
thirty-five hours or were on leave even for the whole period during the
seven-day period.
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).
Monthly employment earnings
refer to
earnings from all jobs during the last month. For employees, they include wage and
salary, bonus, commission, housing allowance, overtime allowance and attendance
allowance. However, back pays are
excluded. For employers and
self-employed, they refer to amounts drawn from the self-owned enterprise for
personal and household use. If
information on the amounts drawn for personal and household use is not
available, data on net earnings from business would be collected instead.
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 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 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 investment income and other
investment income.
The items “Balance of Payments accounts”
until “Reserve assets” are applicable to balance of payments account (Table
23-14):
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 largely measures
flow of real resources, including exports and imports of good and services,
income receivable and payable abroad, and current transfers from and to abroad.
Goods comprise all movable goods
that change ownership from residents to non-residents (exports) and from
non-residents to residents (imports).
Services include services rendered
by residents to non-residents (exports) and by non-residents to residents
(imports).
Income consists of earnings by
residents from non-residents (income receivable) and by non-residents from
residents (income payable) for the provision of factors of production.
Current transfers are those
transactions in which an economy provides to other economies real or financial
resources, that are immediately or shortly consumed, 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
foreign currency assets that are readily available to and controlled by the
monetary authority of an economy (in the case of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong
Monetary Authority) 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.
International Investment Position (IIP) is a
balance sheet showing an economy’s stock of external financial assets and
liabilities at a particular time point.
External financial assets consist of claims on non-residents. On the other hand, an economy’s external
financial liabilities refer to the financial claims of non-residents on
residents of the economy.
Net IIP is the
difference between total external financial assets and total external financial
liabilities. Fully consistent with
the balance of payments financial account, IIP is categorized by type of
investment. Assets and liabilities
are divided into direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives
and other investment. The asset side of IIP also includes the reserve
assets. For detailed explanation on
investment components, please refer to the explanatory notes on the components
of the financial account of the Balance of Payments account.
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
Usable floor area is defined as the aggregate of the areas
of the floor or floors in a storey or a building excluding any staircases,
public circulation space, lift landings, lavatories, water-closets, 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 the accommodation is held by a domestic
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 the 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 the 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 does not include owner-occupiers or households occupying
accommodation provided by employers.
Accommodation 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/her employer for renting accommodation, the tenure is not regarded
as accommodation 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.
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 FOB
(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 investment” until “Flow of
direct investment” are applicable to direct investment
(Table 23-31 and 23-32):
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
investors’ share of earnings of their subsidiaries or associates not
distributed as dividends. Other capital
mainly 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/withdrawals of investment abroad or investment received from abroad
of
A regional headquarters is an
office that has control over the operations of offices in the region (i.e.
A regional office is an
office that coordinates offices/operations in the region (i.e.
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 index (EERI) measures
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 licence banks and deposit-taking
companies.
Licensed banks can accept
deposits of any size and any term of maturity. Before
Restricted licence
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 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 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 M3 refers to the
sum of M2 plus customer deposits with restricted licence
banks and deposit-taking companies plus negotiable certificates of deposits
issued by restricted licence 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. Its change 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 an important 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 HKSAR to reflect
the impact of consumer price changes on households in different expenditure
ranges. The CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) 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 1999/2000 .
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 qualifications for entrance (except sub-degree, associate degree,
degree and post-graduate courses offered by the 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 aim to
provide for the basic and special needs of the members of our community who are
in need 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
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 for people injured
or for dependants of those killed in crimes of violence and law enforcement acts
on a non-means-tested basis.
The Traffic Accident Victims Assistance
(TAVA) Scheme provides speedy
cash assistance for people injured or for dependants of those killed in road
traffic accident. It is a non-means-tested scheme which does not take into
account the element of fault in causing the accident. Payments cover only
personal injury and death but not damage to property.
Emergency relief provides meals or cash-in-lieu of
meals and relief articles to victims of natural and other disasters such as
typhoon, flood, landslide, fire occurred over the territory.
Persons arrested for crime are counted based on the
number of occasions on which the offenders are arrested, whether or not they
are prosecuted. If a person is arrested on two or more occasions, each occasion
is counted as a ‘separate’ person.
If a person is arrested on one occasion for several offences, the
offence with the maximum permissible penalty being the heaviest is chosen for
statistical purposes.