The number of people aged 65 or above living in the New Territories surged 55% - from 231,549 in 1996 to 359,031 in 2006, the Census & Statistics Department says.

According to the March 2008 issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics released today, the proportion of senior residents - defined as those 65 or older - living in the New Territories swelled from 36.8% to 42.1%.

Among the 18 District Council Districts, Kwun Tong had the largest number of elderly residents, constituting 11% of the total elderly population. The districts with the second and the third largest number of senior residents were Eastern (9.7%) and Wong Tai Sin (8.8%).

In 2006, a total of 852,796 elderly people lived in Hong Kong. There were 594,730 domestic households with one or more senior, constituting 26.7% of the total domestic households in the city.

About 53.4% of elderly residents lived with children, 21.2% lived with a spouse only, and 11.6% lived alone.