The aging trend in Hong Kong's population continued during the past 10 years, with the median age rising from 34 in 1996 to 39 in 2006, according to the 2006 Population By-census results released Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference, Commissioner for Census & Statistics Fung Hing-wang attributed this to the continuing low fertility rate and mortality improvement over the period.

Anticipating that the aging pace will accelerate in 2015 or 2016, Fung said about 27 percent of Hong Kong's population will reach the age of 65 or above in the 2030s.

Hong Kong's resident population was 6,864,000 in mid-July 2006.Of this total, 6,645,000 were usual residents and 219,000 were mobile residents.

The sex ratio has fallen from 1,000 men per 1,000 women in 1996, to 911 men per 1,000 women in 2006. The corresponding sex ratios after excluding foreign domestic helpers were 1,037 men per 1,000 women in 1996, and 961 men per 1,000 women in 2006.

The proportion of never-married people among the male population of age 15 and over dropped from 34.2 percent in 1996 to 33.9 percent in 2001, but rose to 34.3 percent in 2006. The figure for women was 28.9 percent in 1996, rising to 30.1 percent in 2001 and to 30.7 percent in 2006.

About 95 percent of the population were of Chinese ethnicity. The largest non-Chinese ethnic groups in Hong Kong were Filipinos and Indonesians, the report result said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2007)