● 2

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was rated as one of the cleanest regions out of 178 countries and regions in a 2010 corruption index released by Transparency International, with HKSAR ranking the second in Asia and 13th in the world.

● 5%

Hong Kong's annual average GDP rate grew by 5 percent from 2004 to 2011, nearly two times that of the other developed economies in the same period.

● 12

Hong Kong offers 12 years of tuition-free education, including six years of primary, three years of secondary and three years of specialized secondary schooling. Its three-year college system is similar to that of the United Kingdom.

● 15

Hong Kong is the 15th largest banking center in the world and hosts one of the three major stock exchanges in Asia.

● 20

Hong Kong's per-capita GDP ranks the 20th in the world.

● 28%

Over the past five years, the HKSAR government's investment in public welfare increased by 28 percent.

● 40%

Forty percent of Hong Kong residents live in public housing.

● 46.5%

Cantonese and English were main languages in Hong Kong before China's resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong. However, Hong Kong's 2011 population census showed that Mandarin had become the second main language, replacing English for the first time. Among the population of 7.108 million, about 46.5 percent say they can speak Mandarin, a rise of 13.2 percentage points compared with 2001. In addition, about 1.4 percent use Mandarin as a primary language, 0.9 percent higher than in 2001.

● 56

Per 100 people in Hong Kong, 56 have telephone lines, ranking third in Asia.

● 67%

The number of tourists from Chinese mainland totaled 28.1 million, increasing 23.9 percent and accounting for 67 percent of the total tourists in Hong Kong in 2011. Total tourism consumption the same year valued at HK$263.1 billion (about $33.9 billion).

● 94%

Forty-one public hospitals are available in Hong Kong, including 49 speciality clinics and 74 general clinics, involving 27,000 beds. Public hospitals, providing 94 percent of hospital services, are able to offer four beds for per 1,000 residents. There are also 13 private hospitals in the region.

● 98

Hong Kong has 98 legally declared ancient sites, including old castles, cliff carvings, archaeological sites and 80 pieces of historically honored architecture.

● 100

Some 100 international media institutes have offices in Hong Kong.

● 160

Hong Kong International Airport is one of the busiest international freight airports, and ranked third in passenger transport in the world. Flights from 95 airline companies worldwide come and go to 160 destinations in Hong Kong and the world, including 45 destinations in Chinese mainland.

● 433

Magazines in Hong Kong available to the public include 443 magazines in Chinese, 106 in English, 127 bilingual, and 17 in other languages. Newspapers in Hong Kong number 45, including 20 in Chinese, 13 in English (including one in braille), seven bilingual, and five in Japanese.

● 1,100

Covering an area of 1,100 square km, Hong Kong has four parts: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories, and the Outlying Islands (including 260 islands).

● 8,800

There are 8,800 students from Chinese mainland and 1,300 students from all over the world studying in Hong Kong's institutes of higher learning funded by the University Grants Committee of the HKSAR.

● 250,000

Ports between Hong Kong and south China's Guangdong Province are the busiest in the world. The mainland pass Luohu port receives 250,000 passengers a day, compared with only 40 people a day 30 years ago.

● 300,000

Some 300,000 Hong Kong residents are currently living and working in Chinese mainland.

● 610,000

There are only 610,000 registered vehicles out of a population of 7.108 million in Hong Kong, and its private cars are merely half of Singapore's and one-third that in China's Taiwan.

● 7.108 million

Hong Kong has a population of 7.108 million by the end of 2010, with 6,480 people per square km. The number of permanent residents reaches 6.89 million at present, with the rest being mobile residents.

● 4.96 billion

By the end of March 2012, mainland commodity imports to Hong Kong benefiting from the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement totaled $4.96 billion, and preferential trade tariff volume stood at 2.84 billion yuan ($449 million).

● 488.3 billion

By the end of 2011, the Hong Kong securities market valued at HK$17.5 trillion ($2.26 trillion), collecting HK$488.3 billion ($62.94 billion).

(Source: Beijing Evening News)