and 7%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures
1%; forest and woodland 12%; other 79%; includes irrigated 3%

_#_Environment: more than 200 islands; occasional typhoons

_*_People
_#_Population: 5,855,800 (July 1991), growth rate 0.6% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 13 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: - 2 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 7 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 77 years male, 84 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 1.4 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: adjective--Hong Kong

_#_Ethnic divisions: Chinese 98%, other 2%

_#_Religion: eclectic mixture of local religions 90%, Christian 10%

_#_Language: Chinese (Cantonese), English

_#_Literacy: 77% (male 90%, female 64%) age 15 and over having ever
attended school (1971)

_#_Labor force: 2,800,000 (1990); manufacturing 28.5%, wholesale and
retail trade, restaurants, and hotels 27.9%, services 17.7%,
financing, insurance, and real estate 9.2%, transport and communications
4.5%, construction 2.5%, other 9.7% (1989)

_#_Organized labor: 16% of labor force (1990)

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: none; abbreviated HK

_#_Type: dependent territory of the UK; scheduled to revert to
China in 1997

_#_Capital: Victoria

_#_Administrative divisions: none (dependent territory of the UK)

_#_Independence: none (dependent territory of the UK); the UK
signed an agreement with China on 19 December 1984 to return Hong Kong to
China on 1 July 1997; in the joint declaration, China promises to respect
Hong Kong's existing social and economic systems and lifestyle for 50
years after transition

_#_Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and
practice; new Basic Law approved in March 1990 in preparation for 1997

_#_Legal system: based on English common law

_#_National holiday: Liberation Day, 29 August (1945)

_#_Executive branch: British monarch, governor, chief secretary of the
Executive Council

_#_Legislative branch: Legislative Council

_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court

_#_Leaders:

Chief of State--Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952);

Head of Government--Governor Sir David Clive WILSON (since 9
April 1987);
Chief Secretary Sir David Robert FORD (since NA February 1987)

_#_Political parties:
United Democrats of Hong Ko