Counting Smarter: How Administrative Data Enhances the Quality of Social Statistics

Imagine you run a gym and would like to know how many members are currently using the facilities. You might walk around the entire venue counting everyone manually, or simply check the system’s automatically recorded entry and exit information — the latter is obviously quicker, more accurate, and saves time and effort.

This example perfectly illustrates the wonder of flexibly utilising administrative data in statistical work — making good use of records automatically generated in daily operations and turning them into valuable resources for understanding our society.

Why using administrative data?

Government departments continuously generate administrative data while delivering daily services, such as passenger movement records, rent of public housing units and subsidy amounts. Although these data were not originally collected for statistical purposes, they contain valuable information reflecting social realities, which can help us more accurately grasp Hong Kong's population situation.

Hong Kong's population is highly mobile — overseas studies, business trips, or travel abroad are very frequent. Traditional surveys alone struggle to fully capture these dynamics. Administrative data can effectively fill this gap, making statistical results more timely, accurate, and closer to the real social situation.

At the same time, using administrative data is also a more efficient way to utilise resources. Traditional large scale statistical surveys require significant manpower and material resources for data collection and processing, while administrative data can provide equivalent, or even richer information at lower costs. The resources saved can be redirected to other important public services, enhancing overall efficiency.

But will privacy be affected?

Rest assured! The Census & Statistics Department (C&SD) attaches great importance to personal data privacy and data security. All administrative data received by C&SD do not contain any information that can directly or indirectly reveal personal identity (such as names, HKID card numbers). The data are used solely for statistical analysis and are kept in strict confidence.

Making the population census smoother

Starting from the 2026 Population Census, C&SD will integrate various government administrative data through the assistance of internally developed AI tools, implementing a simple yet smart upgrade to the entire process. C&SD will continue to select about one tenth of households in Hong Kong every five years for detailed interviews to collect in-depth socio-economic information but using a shortened questionnaire and, the remaining nine-tenths of households do not need to fill in any information.

This innovative approach will not only reduce the reporting burden on the public but also lower operational risks and costs, making the entire census process smoother and more efficient. C&SD is committed to making good use of existing data resources and technological power to maintain statistical quality while providing a more user-friendly census experience for the public.

NG Ka-hei, Proton
Statistician
19 March 2026