ABSTRACT
By Chinese standards, Hong Kong is a rather small place; it is, however, truly unique and intensely bustling. While the total population had fallen by 1 million to about 600,000 in 1945 due to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, and the ensuing flight of large numbers of people back to China, the 1950s saw it rise again and reach 2.5 million. Since then, the population has steadily increased to its current level of 6.7 million people, who are crammed into three main areas: Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon peninsula, and the socalled New Territories. Hong Kong Island, originally 78 sq km, with ragged terrain that includes steep slopes as well as beautiful beaches, has over the years been significantly expanded with stretches of land reclaimed from the sea. The same is true for the Kowloon peninsula, the smallest of the three areas (46.8 sq km), which nonetheless houses 30% of Hong Kong’s total population. The average population density here is 44,210 per sq km. In districts such as Mong Kok it topped 140,000 per sq km at 1986 figures, making Kowloon one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
