Page:HKFactSheet ComingtoHongKong 062015.pdf/2

 $477.6 billion. About 41 per cent of the revenue comes from direct taxes and 26 per cent from indirect taxes. Other sources of revenue include land premium, investment income and fees and charges.

Estimated public expenditure for 2015-16 amounts to $474.2 billion, representing about 20.4 per cent of GDP. This includes government expenditure of $440.8 billion and expenditure by the Housing Authority and the Trading Funds of $33.4 billion. The major areas of public expenditure in the year are: education (16.7 per cent), social welfare (14.3 per cent) and health (14.9 per cent).

Economy: The success of Hong Kong as a leading trade, finance and business centre stems from a policy of free enterprise and trade, industrious work-force, well-developed infrastructure and excellent telecommunications. Over the past 20 years, the Hong Kong economy has grown by an average annual rate of 3.4 per cent per annum in real terms. In 2014, GDP at current market prices amounted to $2,255.6 billion, while per capita GDP has reached $311,479.

Trade: The value of total trade (including merchandise imports, domestic exports and re-exports) in 2014 was $7,891.8 billion, 3.6 per cent higher than that of 2013. The principal market for Hong Kong's total exports was the mainland of China which took 53.9 per cent of Hong Kong's total export value in 2014, followed by the United States of America (9.3 per cent), Japan (3.6 per cent), India (2.6 per cent) and Taiwan (2.2 per cent). The main suppliers of imports were the mainland of China (47.1 per cent), Taiwan (7.1 per cent), Japan (6.8 per cent), Singapore (6.2 per cent) and the United States of America (5.2 per cent).

Housing: As at 31 March 2015, there were a total of about 2.45 million households in Hong Kong, among which about 728 200 households or 2.03 million (around 28 per cent) of the Hong Kong population lived in public rental units of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), and about 30 100 households or 84 000 persons lived in public rental units of the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS). Furthermore, about 377 700 households or 1.22 million (roughly 17 per cent) of the Hong Kong population lived in subsidised sale flats of the HA and the HKHS. In other words, almost half of the households in Hong Kong are living in housing units with government subsidies. Of the remaining 1.31 million households who were living in private housing, about 860 000 were owner-occupiers.

Health: Hong Kong is, on the whole, a healthy place. The general health indices compare favourably with those in Western countries. The hospitals are among the finest and best equipped in the world. Comprehensive medical facilities and specialist services are available throughout Hong Kong. There is no National Health Service and medical advice and treatment have to be paid for. However, government medical services are available to all residents at a nominal charge.

As at end-December 2014, the total number of hospital beds were 37 322, distributed in 42 public hospital and institutions, and 11 private hospitals as well as 55 nursing homes and 22 Correctional Services Department hospitals. The bed-population ratio was 5.1 beds per thousand population. At the same time, there were 13 417 registered doctors, 6 898 registered Chinese medicine practitioners and 2 693 listed Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong, equivalent to 1.8 registered doctors, 0.9 registered Chinese medicine practitioners and 0.4 listed Chinese medicine practitioners per thousand population respectively.

Education: In the 2014/15 school year, there were 978 kindergartens, 571 primary schools and 509 secondary schools. Enrolment in kindergarten was 176 397, with another 329 300 and 373 131 in primary and secondary schools respectively. The student enrolment of the University Grants Committee (UGC) funded programmes offered by the eight UGC-funded institutions in the 2014/15 academic year was 97 583. The student enrolment of locally-accredited self-financing post-secondary programmes (except the Vocational Training Council) at sub-degree or above level was 65 711. For the Vocational Training Council, the student enrolment of the pre-employment programmes in the 2013/14 academic year was 58 590. The Government has introduced a New Academic Structure (NAS) that covers three years of junior secondary education, three in senior secondary and four at university. The 3-year senior secondary education under the NAS has been implemented in S4 since September 2009 and the 4-year undergraduate programmes have been implemented since September 2012.

Social Welfare: The Social Welfare Department and non-governmental organisations (including 169 subvented welfare organisations) provide a full range of welfare services through about 2 800 agreement service units. Services include social security, family and child welfare, medical social work, group and community work, services for young people, services for the elderly, rehabilitation services for the disabled, and services for offenders. The department operates a 24-hour hotline providing information on social welfare services. Social workers are also available round the clock to provide immediate telephone counselling, support and referral services.

Transportation: Sea: In 2014, about 30 180 ocean-going ships and 159 280 river-trade vessels arrived at the port of Hong Kong – one of the busiest container ports in the world. During the year, about 11.7 million passengers came from the Mainland and Macao on board jetfoils and catamarans to disembark at the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui and the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan. About 14.8 million passengers made outbound ferry trips from the two terminals.

Road: In 2014, there are 2 099 kilometres of roads with a total number of 699 540 licensed vehicles and government vehicles, a density of 333 vehicles per kilometre. Three cross-harbour tunnels link Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. As at end 2014, about 5 810 franchised buses and more than 3.91 million daily passenger journeys were recorded during the year. There were large fleets of minibuses and taxis, and 164 tram cars.

Railways: The railway system in Hong Kong is operated and managed by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation Limited. It consists of Kwun Tong Line (Tiu Keng Leng – Yau Ma Tei), Tsuen Wan Line (Tsuen Wan – Central), Island Line (Chai Wan – Kennedy Town), Tung Chung Line (Hong Kong – Tung Chung), Tseung Kwan O Line (Po Lam/LOHAS Park – North Point), East Rail Line (Hung Hom – Lo Wu/Lok Ma Chau), West Rail Line (Tuen Mun – Hung Hom), Ma On Shan Line (Wu Kai Sha – Tai Wai) and Disneyland Resort Line (Sunny Bay – Disneyland Resort). There are 85 stations along the 177.4 kilometre route. The MTR also operates a 35.2 km Airport Express Line and a 36.2-kilometre Light Rail network which has 68 stops in the northwest New Territories. Light Rail feeder bus services provide rail passengers with a more comprehensive service network. The entire system carries an average of 5 million passengers each day.

Besides, the MTR also provides cross-boundary through-train services between Hong Kong and Beijing, Shanghai and cities in Guangdong.

Air: Hong Kong International Airport is among the busiest in the world. There are about 100 airlines providing about 7 200 scheduled passenger and freight flights each week. In 2014, it handled over 62.93 million international passengers and 4.38 million tonnes of air cargo.