24-35  Number of Companies in Hong Kong that are Regional Offices by Country/Territory of the Parent Company
Item	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Number of companies in Hong Kong	2293	2171	2241	2511	2631
that are regional offices
Coutry/territory of the Parent Company①
United States of America	420	437	498	557	606
Japan	533	471	442	515	537
United Kingdom	163	163	196	211	215
The mainland of China	172	170	148	156	160
Germany	108	96	122	135	139
Taiwan,China	142	121	111	128	133
France	88	91	101	106	110
Singapore	77	79	81	97	103
Switzerland	68	61	61	70	73
Republic of Korea	43	52	45	57	69
Australia	76	49	60	67	68
Italy	52	38	41	54	53
Netherlands	62	57	55	52	50
Sweden	27	25	28	33	33
Canada	34	28	27	29	25
Note: Figures refer to the first working day of June of the year.
A regional office is an office that coordinates offices/operations in the region (i.e. Hong Kong plus one or more other places), and manages
the business but with frequent referrals to its parent company outside Hong Kong or its regional headquarters .
In the case of a joint-ventured regional office in Hong Kong, there may be more than one country/territory of its parent company/companies.
①Prior to 2005, figures refer to the country/territory where parent companies are incorporated.  As from 2005, figures refer to the
country/territory where parent companies are located.