Hong Kong

noun:

Chinese/Hong Konger

adjective:

Chinese/Hong Kong

total:

47.2 years (2024 est.)

male:

45.3 years

female:

48.6 years

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.1 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.81 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.86 male(s)/female

total population:

0.86 male(s)/female (2024 est.)

total:

2.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.)

male:

2.8 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

2.2 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

84 years (2024 est.)

male:

81.3 years

female:

86.8 years

total population:

NA

male:

NA

female:

NA

• air and water pollution from rapid urbanization;
• urban waste pollution;
• industrial pollution

urban population:

100% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization:

0.58% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

municipal solid waste generated annually:

5,679,816 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually:

1,931,138 tons (2016 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled:

34% (2016 est.)

conventional long form:

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

conventional short form:

Hong Kong

local long form:

Heung Kong Takpit Hangching Ku (Eitel/Dyer-Ball)

local short form:

Heung Kong (Eitel/Dyer-Ball)

abbreviation:

HK

etymology:

probably an imprecise phonetic rendering of the Cantonese name meaning "fragrant harbor"

• National Day (Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949);
• note - 1 July (1997) is celebrated as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day

• mixed legal system of common law based on the English model and Chinese customary law (in matters of family and land tenure);
• PRC imposition of National Security Law incorporates elements of Chinese civil law

history:

• several previous (governance documents while under British authority);
• latest drafted April 1988 to February 1989, approved March 1990, effective 1 July 1997 (Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China serves as the constitution);
• note - since 1990, China's National People's Congress has interpreted specific articles of the Basic Law

amendments:

• proposed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the People’s Republic of China State Council, or the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong;
• submittal of proposals to the NPC requires two-thirds majority vote by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, approval by two thirds of Hong Kong’s deputies to the NPC, and approval by the Hong Kong chief executive;
• final passage requires approval by the NPC

• 18 years of age in direct elections for 20 of the 90 Legislative Council seats and all of the seats in 18 district councils;
• universal for permanent residents living in the territory of Hong Kong for the past 7 years;
• note - in indirect elections, suffrage is limited to about 220,000 members of functional constituencies for the other 70 legislature seats and a 1,500-member election committee for the chief executive drawn from broad sectoral groupings, central government bodies, municipal organizations, and elected Hong Kong officials

chief of state:

President of China XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013)

head of government:

Chief Executive John LEE Ka-chiu (since 1 July 2022)

cabinet:

Executive Council or ExCo appointed by the chief executive

elections/appointments:

• president indirectly elected by National People's Congress for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 10 March 2023 (next to be held in March 2028);
• chief executive indirectly elected by the Election Committee and appointed by the PRC Government for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 8 May 2022 (next to be held in 2027)

election results:

2022: John LEE was the only candidate and won with over 99% of the vote by the Election Committee; 2017 : Carrie LAM elected; Election Committee vote - Carrie LAM (non-partisan) 777, John TSANG (non-partisan) 365, WOO Kwok-hing (non-partisan) 21, 23 ballots rejected (1,186 votes cast)

note: electoral changes that Beijing imposed in March 2021 expanded the Election Committee to 1,500 members

description:

• unicameral Legislative Council or LegCo (90 seats);
• 20 members directly elected, 70 indirectly elected;
• members serve 4-year terms

elections:

last held on 19 Dec 2021 (next to be held in 2025)

election results:

• percent of vote by bloc: pro-Beijing 93.8%, non-establishment 6.2%;
• seats by association/bloc/party - pro-Beijing 89 (DAB 19, HKFTU 8, BPA 7, NPP 5, LP 4, NTAS 4, HKFEW 2, HKFLU 2, CF 2, RT 1, PP 1, KWND 1, NPHK 1, NCF-1; other/independent 41), non-aligned 1 (Third Side);
• composition - men 73, women 17, percentage women 18.9%

note 1: all political candidates are evaluated by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee (CERC), which was established in April 2022; CERC members are all appointed by the chief executive

note 2: Hong Kong's leading pro-democracy political parties boycotted the 2021 election

highest court(s):

• Court of Final Appeal (consists of the chief justice, 3 permanent judges, and 20 non-permanent judges);
• note - a sitting bench consists of the chief justice, 3 permanent judges, and 1 non-permanent judge

judge selection and term of office:

• all judges appointed by the Hong Kong Chief Executive upon the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, an independent body consisting of the Secretary for Justice, other judges, and judicial and legal professionals;
• permanent judges serve until normal retirement at age 65, but term can be extended;
• non-permanent judges appointed for renewable 3-year terms without age limit

subordinate courts:

• High Court (consists of the Court of Appeal and Court of First Instance);
• District Courts (includes Family and Land Courts);
• magistrates' courts;
• specialized tribunals

• Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong or BPA
• Civil Force or CF
• Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong or DAB
• Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions or HKFLU
• Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers or HKFEW
• Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions or HKFTU
• Kowloon West New Dynamic or KWND
• Liberal Party or LP
• New Century Forum or NCF
• New People's Party or NPP
• New Prospect for Hong Kong or NPHK
• New Territories Association of Societies or NTAS
• Professional Power or PP
• Roundtable or RT
• Third Side or TS

note 1: there is no political party ordinance, so there are no registered political parties; politically active groups register as societies or companies

note 2: by the end of 2021, the leading pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong had been effectively removed from the political arena under the provisions of Beijing's 2021 electoral changes or via charges under the 2020 national security law;

in addition, dozens of pro-democracy organizations, including political parties, unions, churches, civil rights groups, and media organizations have disbanded or closed; as of 2023, nearly all politically active groups were pro-Beijing

chief of mission:

Consul General Gregory MAY (since September 2022); note - also accredited to Macau

embassy:

26 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong

mailing address:

8000 Hong Kong Place, Washington DC 20521-8000

telephone:

[852] 2523-9011

FAX:

[852] 2845-1598

email address and website:

[email protected]; https://hk.usconsulate.gov/

• red with a stylized, white, five-petal Bauhinia flower in the center;
• each petal contains a small, red, five-pointed star in its middle;
• the red color is the same as that on the Chinese flag and represents the motherland;
• the fragrant Bauhinia - developed in Hong Kong the late 19th century - has come to symbolize the region;
• the five stars echo those on the flag of China

• high-income tourism- and services-based economy;
• global financial hub;
• COVID-19 and political protests fueled recent recession;
• ongoing recovery but lower-skilled unemployment remains high;
• investing in job-reskilling programs

Fitch rating:

AA- (2020)

Moody's rating:

Aa3 (2020)

Standard & Poors rating: AA+ (2017)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

total:

10.5% (2023 est.)

male:

11.3% (2023 est.)

female:

9.6% (2023 est.)

note: % of labor force ages 15-24 seeking employment

on food:

11.7% of household expenditures (2022 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco:

0.8% of household expenditures (2022 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.8%

highest 10%:

38.1% (2016)

consumption:

6.217 million metric tons (2022 est.)

exports:

800 metric tons (2022 est.)

imports:

5.681 million metric tons (2022 est.)

total petroleum production:

96 bbl/day (2023 est.)

refined petroleum consumption:

414,000 bbl/day (2022 est.)

consumption:

4.835 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

imports:

4.835 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)

general assessment:

• Hong Kong’s telecommunications sector continues to stay near the top of world rankings for the industry;
• it has kept its #1 spot in the Asian region in terms of the maturity of its telecom market – a reflection of the high penetration rates across mobile, mobile broadband, and fixed broadband;
• even fixed-line teledensity in Hong Kong is impressive at over 50%, although it too has started a gradual decline in keeping with most other telecom markets around the world, as consumers slowly transition over to the mobile platform for all of their communication needs (2022)

domestic:

fixed-line is over 51 per 100 and mobile-cellular is 319 subscriptions per 100 (2021)

international:

• country code - 852;
• landing points for the AAE-1, AAG, APCN-2, APG, ASE, FEA, FNAL, RNAL, H2HE, SeaMeWe-3, SJC and TGN-IA submarine cables that provide connections to Asia, US, Australia, the Middle East, and Europe;
• satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean);
• coaxial cable to Guangzhou, China (2022)

• 34 commercial terrestrial TV networks each with multiple stations;
• multi-channel satellite and cable TV systems available;
• 3 licensed broadcasters of terrestrial radio, one of which is government funded, operate about 12 radio stations;
• note - 4 digital radio broadcasters operated in Hong Kong from 2010 to 2017, but all digital radio services were terminated in September 2017 due to weak market demand (2019)

number of registered air carriers:

12 (2020) (registered in China); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 275 (registered in China)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

47,101,822 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

12,676,720,000 (2018) mt-km

total:

2,193 km

paved:

2,193 km (2021)

total ports:

1 (2024)

large:

1

medium:

0

small:

0

very small:

0

ports with oil terminals:

1

key ports:

Hong Kong

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List — the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking compared with the previous reporting period, therefore Hong Kong was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List;
• for more details, go to: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/hong-kong/

• modern banking system provides conduit for money laundering;
• groups involved in money laundering range from local street organizations to sophisticated international syndicates involved in assorted criminal activities, including drug trafficking;
• major source of precursor chemicals used in the production of illicit narcotics