The data topics for the 2026 Population Census cover six aspects, including
- demographic and social characteristics (e.g. year and month of birth and sex);
- educational characteristics (e.g. educational attainment and field of education);
- internal migration characteristics (e.g. place of residence five years ago);
- economic characteristics (e.g. income and hours of work);
- housing characteristics (e.g. floor area of accommodation, rent and mortgage payment or loan payment); and
- household characteristics (e.g. relationship to head of household).
The 44 data topics for the 2026 Population Census are listed below:
Demographic and social characteristics
- Year and month of birth
- Sex
- Marital status
- Usual spoken language
- Ability to speak other languages/dialects
- Ability to read/write languages
- Nationality
- Ethnicity (including place of origin)
- Place of birth
- Whether a person requiring care and the primary carer
Educational characteristics
- School attendance
- Educational attainment (highest level attended)
- Educational attainment (highest level completed)
- Field of education
- Place of study
Internal migration characteristics
- Whereabouts at census reference date (i.e. 30 June 2026)
- Duration of residence in Hong Kong
- Place of residence five years ago
Economic characteristics
- Economic activity status
- Industry
- Occupation
- Whether having other employment
- Earnings from main employment
- Earnings from other employment
- Other cash income (including cash income from rent)
- Hours of work
- Place of work
Housing characteristics
- 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/dining rooms, bedrooms, other rooms, kitchens, bathrooms/toilets)
- 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
Household characteristics
- Type of household
- Relationship to head of household
- Whether a member of household
- Household size (derived)
- Household composition (derived)
- Household income (derived)
Aside from the above, the 2026 Population Census will also cover data topics for determining whether a person falls within the population coverage (i.e. “Total time stayed in Hong Kong in the past six months”, “Total time to be stayed in Hong Kong in the coming six months”, “Usual accommodation in Hong Kong at present”, and “Reason for not staying in Hong Kong for some period”). Moreover, information on whether a person was admitted to Hong Kong through selected talent attraction and labour importation schemes will be collected with a view to better understanding their socio-economic characteristics, subject to the feasibility of compiling accurate headcounts from administrative data.
