Four men to every woman

Today there are more women than men in Hong Kong, but in 1853 things were very, very different

. Hong Kong's first census, taken that year, showed there were 4,184 men per 1,000 women. More than four men for every woman!

To see how long that was the case, here are the numbers from the early census returns. I'm using the simpler 'number of men per woman' figure, and only include adults in the calculation:

Over these fifty years there is a considerable improvement, though the number seems to hit a plateau during the 1870s-1880s. Still, at the start of the twentieth century there were still less than two women for every five men - not the type of place where people are planning to stay very long: Turn up, make money, go home.

What if we look at smaller groups, instead of Hong Kong as a whole? The British were the colonial power of the time. Wouldn't they be more likely to consider Hong Kong 'home' and want family around? Either as they set up business here, or were posted here for several years? Here are the numbers:

(* This figure in the 1853 census is for 'Europeans & Americans'. It doesn't give any further breakdown by nationality, though later censuses do.)

In 1853, British society was very male-dominated. Fifty years later, they're getting close to equal numbers of men and women, certainly at a faster rate than the population as a whole.

But was 'the British were the colonial power of the time' really the reason behind this? Here are the numbers for the Europeans & Americans, excluding British and Portuguese.

So no, since the ratios for Europeans are very similar to those for the British, we can't say being a citizen of the resident colonial power had any special effect.

But there was one group whose colonial experience did make a difference. We've already mentioned them – the Portuguese. Look at the men-to-woman ratios for them:

By the 1880's there are already more Portuguese women than men in Hong Kong!

And something else that isn't clear from these numbers is the relative sizes of the different populations. Throughout the early years of Hong Kong as a colony, the largest non-Chinese group is the Portuguese. It isn't until the 1901 census that we see more British than Portuguese.

Their large numbers, combined with the equal numbers of men and women, suggests to me that whole Portuguese families were relocating here from Macau, unlike say the British, where single men were travelling here from the UK.

Finally, why are the numbers in the 'All' column so much higher than the other columns? Of course the missing group is the Chinese. They formed the bulk of the population, and had the greatest impact on the 'All' numbers.

Their men-to-woman ratio also improves over time, but more slowly than for the Europeans. Here are the numbers for the 'Chinese in Victoria', split by the land-based and boat-based populations:

Then the last curiosity is why living on land vs living on a boat should make a difference. Any suggestions?

Regards, David

PS In mid-2009 the ratio of all men-to women in Hong Kong was under 0.9. By 2033 it is forecast to drop below 0.75!