Major Development of the Census and Statistics Department (1967-2022)

Early Years of C&SD: witnessing an era of rapid economic growth of Hong Kong (1967-1979)

The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) was established in December 1967, witnessing an era of rapid economic growth of Hong Kong. Major statistical systems of C&SD, including those on Gross Domestic Product, Consumer Price Indices, trade statistics, population and labour statistics, were established during the early years, laying a solid foundation for future development.

1967

External trade was of paramount importance to the economy of Hong Kong when C&SD was established in 1967. Thus, one of the key tasks of C&SD at that time was to compile external trade statistics.

Checking trade declarations for data completeness and accuracy.

A report on trade statistics published by C&SD in its early years reflected growth in Hong Kong’s external trade.

1971

The 1971 Population Census was the first census conducted by C&SD. It was much more detailed and comprehensive than the previous ones carried out before the establishment of C&SD. Also, the processing of census results was done by computers for the first time.

Sufficient labour force was secured for economic development through post-war baby boom and inflow of people from the Mainland in the 1960s and 1970s.

Poster for the 1971 Population Census.

Sir David Trench, the Governor of Hong Kong (centre), accompanied by Mr K W J Topley, Commissioner for Census and Statistics (second from right), at a briefing on the planning work for the 1971 Population Census.

An enumerator interviewing a household during the 1971 Population Census.

An enumerator interviewing a household in the rural area during the 1971 Population Census.

Conducting the 1971 Marine Census in Yaumatei Anchorage.

Checking of census tabulation printouts.

A map showing the population density in 1971. The population was concentrated on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon at that time, whereas the New Territories was sparsely populated.

Population projections covering 1971-1991 was published, using data of the 1971 Population Census as the benchmark.

1973

In 1973, C&SD released the first set of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics as the most important indicator for analysing the overall economic situation.

The first statistical report on GDP published by C&SD.

The National Income Statistics Branch of C&SD was responsible for compiling GDP statistics.

1974

The economy blossomed in tandem with the rapid development of the manufacturing sector in the 1960s and 1970s. C&SD conducted a Census of Manufacturing Establishments in 1971 and the first Annual Survey of Industrial Production in 1974. Statistical surveys for other major industries were also launched afterwards.

The manufacturing sector flourished in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hong Kong was a manufacturing-based economy in the 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, C&SD’s first sectoral economic survey was on the manufacturing industry.

Report of the Survey of the Textiles and Clothing Industries in 1974/75. In the 1970s, textiles and clothing industries were the most prominent in the Hong Kong manufacturing sector.

1974

C&SD established the new series of Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 1974 and conducted a Household Expenditure Survey in the same year to update the expenditure weights of the CPI. When Hong Kong entered a period of high inflation starting from the late 1970s, C&SD was able to measure changes in prices comprehensively and accurately.

Mr D S Whitelegge, Commissioner for Census and Statistics (left), announcing new series of CPI in 1974.

A report on the CPI in 1974, showing the prices of food items. For instance, a catty of beef of best quality only cost around $10 at that time.

A field officer collecting price data from a wet market for compiling the CPI.

1975

C&SD conducted the first Labour Force Survey in 1975 to provide important statistics on the employed and unemployed population.

The labour statistics compiled by C&SD are important indicators reflecting the labour market situation.

Tracking the transition of the Hong Kong economy (1980-2000)

With the reform and opening up of the Mainland, Hong Kong has evolved from a manufacturing hub to a service-based economy. To tie in with this development, C&SD launched new statistical products to reflect the changing economic structure. Furthermore, there was an increasing demand for timely statistics. As such, C&SD strived to develop more comprehensive statistical indicators, in particular the short-term ones, to track the rapid changes in the socio-economic development.

1980

With the diversified growth of the economy, C&SD launched annual economic surveys for various sectors successively in the 1980s.

Hong Kong’s import/export trade grew in prominence since the reform and opening up of the Mainland. The first Annual Survey of Wholesale, Retail and Import/Export Trades, Restaurants and Hotels was conducted by C&SD as early as in 1978.

C&SD conducted the first Annual Survey of Building, Construction and Real Estate Sectors in 1980.

C&SD conducted the first Annual Survey of Storage, Communications, Financing, Insurance and Business Services in 1981.

The opening of the MTR in 1979 was a milestone in the history of transport in Hong Kong. In 1982, C&SD launched the Annual Survey of Transport and Related Services.

1980

In 1980, C&SD launched a new series of Quarterly Survey of Employment, Vacancies and Payroll to facilitate understanding the labour market situation of various industries.

The rapid development of the economy created substantial demand for manpower.

1981

The series of Labour Force Surveys was transformed into the General Household Survey in 1981 for compiling employment and unemployment statistics on a continuous basis. Nowadays, the unemployment rate figure, published on a monthly basis, is one of the statistics that draw the most public attention.

The General Household Survey provides statistics on the employment situation.

The first statistical report of the General Household Survey.

Programmable calculators used in the General Household Survey in its early days. C&SD has started installing microcomputers since 1986, improving the efficiency of compiling statistics greatly.

1981

In 1981, C&SD began compiling statistics of retail sales on a monthly basis as a short-term economic indicator. Statistics of retail sales often provide an early indication of changes in the economic cycle and therefore attract much public attention.

The performance of the retail trade is highly related to the economic situation.

The first statistical report of the Monthly Survey of Retail Sales.

The quarterly performance of the restaurant industry is also an indicator of short-term economic situation. C&SD began conducting the Quarterly Survey of Restaurant Receipts and Purchases in 1983 to gauge the performance of the restaurant industry.

1984

With the gradually complete development of the annual economic surveys on various major sectors, C&SD released the first set of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by economic activity in 1984 for gauging the contribution of different industries to the local economy.

The contribution of the services sector to GDP has been increasing since the 1980s.

1988

With the reform and opening up of the Mainland in the 1980s, many manufacturing companies in Hong Kong relocated their production processes to the Mainland and shifted to outward processing trade instead. C&SD began collecting data on trade involving outward processing in the Mainland in 1988. The statistics compiled reflected the growing economic ties between Hong Kong and the Mainland since the Mainland’s reform and opening up.

Statistics on trade involving outward processing in the Mainland have been compiled since 1988 to assess the economic impact of outward processing activities on Hong Kong’s trade with the Mainland.

1990

As external trade flourished in Hong Kong, new technologies have been introduced to C&SD’s trade statistics system over the years to enhance work efficiency and capacity for handling a huge volume of trade declarations.

A C&SD officer using the computer to issue notices to importers and exporters who failed to submit trade declarations in the 1980s.

More than 1 million trade declarations were handled per month in the 1990s.

Microfilming trade declarations to save space in the 1990s.

C&SD has established the Customer Liaison Group on Trade Matters since 1994 to obtain customers’ opinions on the services provided by the department. The group comprises personnel from various sectors who are either users of trade statistics or users of services provided by C&SD in the lodgement of import/export declarations or cargo manifests.

Launching of the Electronic Data Interchange service in 1997 to simplify the procedures for lodging trade declarations.

1993

In view of the rising importance of the services sector, C&SD started the Quarterly Survey of Service Industries in 1993 for analysing the latest business performance of various service industries.

Apart from reflecting the short-term business performance of the services sector, the Quarterly Survey of Service Industries provides timely data for compiling quarterly estimates of GDP.

Quality statistics for a globalised economy(2000-2010)

The process of globalisation has been accelerating continuously in the 21st century with significant growth of international movements of goods, services and capital. As an international trading hub and financial centre, Hong Kong has seen a growing need for more adequate official statistics to gauge the globalisation process and analyse its economic impact. Against this background, C&SD developed a series of new statistics to assess the situation of international trade in services and cross border investment in Hong Kong.

2000

Under the trend of globalisation, the external trade of Hong Kong, especially trade with the Mainland flourished. C&SD strengthened its cooperation with the Mainland authorities and assisted the government in providing electronic submission service of trade documents to facilitate the compilation of timely and quality trade statistics.

Mr Frederick Ho, Commissioner for Census and Statistics (left), signed a co-operation programme with Mr Sheng Guang-zu, Deputy Customs Commissioner-General of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, in 2000 to enhance technical exchanges on trade statistics.

The government fully launched the electronic submission service of cargo manifests for the air, ocean, river and rail modes of transport in 2006, and rolled out the Road Cargo System for customs clearance of road cargoes in 2010 to facilitate the flow of cross-boundary road cargoes.

2000

As an international financial centre, enormous amounts of capital move into and out of Hong Kong. In 2000, C&SD released the first set of Balance of Payments statistics to record economic transactions between Hong Kong and the rest of the world, covering trade in goods and services, investment and income.

C&SD disseminates Balance of Payments, International Investment Position and External Debt statistics on a quarterly basis, which provide an objective basis for gauging financial soundness and policy formulation.

2002

With the rapid infrastructural development in the Mainland, particularly ports and related transportation facilities, trading firms in Hong Kong further evolved their mode of operation from the traditional mode of imports and re-exports to engaging in offshore trade. In view of this, C&SD began compiling offshore trade statistics in 2002. Besides, many Hong Kong companies provided services such as transportation, travel, insurance and financial services to foreign customers. C&SD has been compiling trade in services statistics since 2002 to tie in with the internationalisation trend of markets for services.

Trade in services statistics can reflect the opportunities brought to Hong Kong by the internationalisation of markets for goods and services.

Trade in goods and services has undergone tremendous changes under globalisation. C&SD staff making a briefing to members of the business sector on the latest trade in goods and services statistics.

2006

With the globalisation of the world economy, a number of multinational enterprises have established affiliates in Hong Kong for conducting sales of goods and services. As such, C&SD compiled foreign affiliates statistics for the first time in 2006. The statistics are useful for a better understanding of the degree of globalisation of the Hong Kong economy.

The Hong Kong economy has a high degree of openness and there is significant commercial presence of foreign affiliates in Hong Kong.

Statistics for a more inclusive society(2011-2022)

Hong Kong has developed into an advanced economy with the efforts of several generations of people. There have been increasing discussions on social issues in the community, with a view to enabling different sectors of the society to share the fruits of economic development. C&SD is providing more relevant statistics and objective analyses to support evidence-based discussions in the society for reaching consensus. Indeed, C&SD statistics have been examined during the formulation of some major policies on labour, welfare and housing issues. For instance, statistics have been frequently used in studies related to Statutory Minimum Wage, poverty and inadequate housing.

2009

C&SD conducted the Annual Earnings and Hours Survey (AEHS) for the first time in 2009 to support the study on the setting of the Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate in Hong Kong. The government established the SMW in 2011 after examining the relevant statistics. Nowadays, the results of the AEHS are studied during every review of the SMW rate.

C&SD launched the Annual Earnings and Hours Survey for assisting the implementation of the Statutory Minimum Wage in 2011. The survey results have all along been used in a number of labour cost impact analyses.

2013

Since the announcement of the first official poverty line by the Commission on Poverty in 2013, C&SD has been rendering professional assistance in updating the poverty line, the size of the poor population and the poverty rate on an annual basis. These statistics are of wide public concern.

The Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report is published on an annual basis to provide detailed statistics and analyses for an objective assessment of the poverty alleviation effectiveness of government policies.

Ms Marion Chan, Deputy Commissioner for Census and Statistics (first from right), attending a press conference held by Mr Matthew Cheung, the Chief Secretary for Administration (second from left), on the analysis of the poverty situation in Hong Kong.

2016

The recent years have seen a surge in subdivided units (SDUs) and a growing demand by the public to study the number of SDUs in the territory and the living conditions of SDU households. Against this background, C&SD collected information on SDUs in the 2016 Population By-census and the 2021 Population Census.

Thematic report on “Persons Living in Subdivided Units” of the 2016 Population By-census.

C&SD staff conducting a briefing session on the use of statistics on subdivided units for social welfare organisations.

2019

C&SD conducted a territory-wide survey on persons with disabilities and chronic diseases in 2019 to 2020 to collect information on their living conditions and care needs.

The survey on persons with disabilities and chronic diseases is useful for the government and non-governmental organisations to review their rehabilitation, medical and welfare services.

2021

C&SD took into account the needs of various stakeholders when planning for the 2021 Population Census. For instance, the department enhanced the support services for persons of different ethnicities during data collection, added a new data topic of “elderly persons requiring care”, as well as planned to introduce a new thematic report on children.

C&SD invited community leaders of different ethnic groups to shoot short videos to promote the 2021 Population Census. Pictured is Mr Muhammad Arshad, Chief Imam of Hong Kong, introducing the Population Census in Urdu.

There were census officers of different ethnicities in the 2021 Population Census to provide interpretation services in a number of languages, so that data of persons of different ethnicities could be accurately collected.

C&SD added a new data topic of “elderly persons requiring care” in the 2021 Population Census after an extensive consultation exercise with data users.

C&SD will add a thematic report on “Children” in the 2021 Population Census to support the work of the Commission on Children.