Hong Kong 2006 Population By-census Thematic Report: Youths was published today, providing a comprehensive range of statistics on people aged 15-24.

Compiled based on the results of the 2006 Population By-census it covers demographic characteristics, education, labour, living arrangements and housing, and geographical characteristics of Hong Kong's youth.

Comparisons are made with past population census results.

Youth trend: The Hong Kong 2006 Population By-census Thematic Report: Youths shows a gradual rise in the youth population, which has more females than males.

The report's findings include:

* the youth population rose to 909,005 in 2006 - an average 2% annual growth rate for the past 45 years, faster than the 1.7% figure for the whole population;

* the percentage of youths in the total population rose to a peak of 23% in 1981 from 11.8% in 1961, but fell to 13.2% in 2006;

* the youth sex ratio in 2006 was 973 compared with the overall sex ratio of 911;

* the ratio of youths who have never married rose to 97.1% in 2006 from 94% in 1996, while those who were now married fell from 5.8% to 2.8%; and,

* the New Territories has the largest share of youths from 1996 to 2006, rising from 50.3% to 57.3%, while Hong Kong Island and Kowloon saw their youth populations dip to 15.8% and 26.9% in 2006 from 18.7% and 30.8% a decade ago.

Click here to download the report.