24-36  Number of Regional Offices in Hong Kong by Country/Territory of the Parent Company
Item	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Number of regional offices	2171	2241	2511	2631	2617
in Hong Kong①
Coutry/territory of the Parent Company②
United States of America	437	498	557	606	594
Japan	471	442	515	537	519
United Kingdom	163	196	211	215	223
The mainland of China	170	148	156	160	156
Taiwan, China	121	111	128	133	149
Germany	96	122	135	139	136
France	91	101	106	110	117
Singapore	79	81	97	103	106
Switzerland	61	61	70	73	68
Republic of Korea	52	45	57	69	65
Australia	49	60	67	68	62
Italy	38	41	54	53	52
Netherlands	57	55	52	50	47
Sweden	25	28	33	33	34
Canada	28	27	29	25	31
Notes : Figures refer to the first working day of June of the year.
A regional office is an office that coordinates offices and/or operations in the region (i.e. Hong Kong plus one or more other places) on behalf
of its parent company located outside Hong Kong.
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.
①Definition of regional office has been revised from 2006 onwards.  Figures for regional office for 2006 presented above may not be strictly
comparable with those before 2006.
②Prior 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.