Background
Objectives
The aim of conducting population censuses/by-censuses is to obtain up-to-date benchmark information on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population of Hong Kong and on its geographical distribution.
Such information is vital to the Government for planning and policy formulation, and the private sector and academia for business and research purposes.
Overall Design
In the 2021 Population Census, about nine-tenths of the households were subject to simple enumeration to provide basic demographic information of their household members, while the remaining one-tenth of the households were subject to more detailed enquiry on a broad range of demographic and socio-economic characteristics of their household members.
(Simple enumeration covers only some basic questions. On the other hand, more detailed enquiry includes not only those questions covered in the simple enumeration, but also additional ones related to the socio-economic characteristics of the population and the characteristics of households and quarters. Taking together the common information collected in both the simple enumeration and more detailed enquiry will give the complete enumeration results on the basic characteristics of the population. It will also form the basis for estimation of the detailed socio-economic characteristics collected through the more detailed enquiry.)
Data Topic
The data topics for the 2021 Population Census cover 6 aspects, including (i) demographic and social characteristics (e.g. year and month of birth and sex), (ii) educational characteristics (e.g. educational attainment and field of education), (iii) internal migration characteristics (e.g. place of residence 5 years ago), (iv) economic characteristics (e.g. income and hours of work), (v) housing characteristics (e.g. floor area of accommodation, rent and mortgage payment or loan payment) and (vi) household characteristics (e.g. relationship to head of household).
The 46 data topics for the 2021 Population Census are listed below:
- Year and month of birth
- Sex
- Marital status
- Usual spoken language
- Ability to speak other languages/dialects
- Ability to read/write languages
- Nationality
- Ethnicity
- Place of birth
- Elderly persons requiring care
- School attendance
- Educational attainment (highest level attended)
- Educational attainment (highest level completed)
- Field of education
- Place of study
- Mode of transport to place of study
- Whereabouts at census reference moment
- Duration of residence in Hong Kong
- Place of residence 5 years ago
- Economic activity status
- Industry
- Occupation
- Whether having secondary employment
- Earnings from main employment
- Earnings from other employment
- Other cash income (including cash income from rent)
- Hours of work
- Place of work
- Mode of transport to place of work
- Type of quarters
- Type of accommodation
- Whether the quarters is used as usual or occasional residence
- Whether the quarters is a subdivided unit
- Number of rooms in the residence (including living or dining rooms, kitchens, bathrooms or toilets, bedrooms, other rooms, cocklofts and bedspaces)
- Floor area of accommodation
- No. of households in quarters (derived)
- No. of occupants in quarters (derived)
- Tenure of accommodation
- Rent (including rates, government rent and management fees)
- Mortgage payment or loan payment
- Type of household
- Relationship to head of household
- Whether a member of household
- Household size (derived)
- Household composition (derived)
- Household income (derived)
Demographic and social characteristics
Educational characteristics
Internal migration characteristics
Economic characteristics
Housing characteristics
Household characteristics
Timing
The 2021 Population Census was conducted from 23 June to 4 August 2021.
Data Collection Method
The 2021 Population Census adopted a multi-modal data collection approach which was conducted in two phases.
First phase: starting on 23 June
All households received a Population Census notification letter before end June 2021. Households could provide data through the following means:
- Complete online questionnaire
- Conduct telephone interview (census hotline at 18 2021)
- Mail back completed questionnaire (applicable to households receiving paper questionnaire)
Second phase: starting on 18 July
Census officers visited households that had not yet completed the questionnaire so as to assist them in providing the required information. Census officers carried a Census Officer Certificate of Identity for respondents’ checking. To reduce face-to-face contact and maintain social distance, households were cordially invited to provide the required information by online or paper questionnaire or via telephone means.
Population Coverage
The 2021 Population Census covers all persons within the definition of the Hong Kong Resident Population under the “resident population” approach.
The “resident population” approach has been adopted to compile the population estimates of Hong Kong since August 2000, so as to take account of the changing residency and mobility patterns of the Hong Kong population.
History
Since 1961, a population census has been conducted in Hong Kong every ten years and a by-census in the middle of the intercensal period.
Population censuses were conducted in 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 while population by-censuses in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016.
If you would like to have more information about the past population censuses / by-censuses, please visit the following web pages: