Following is a question by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr John Lee, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
Question：
Regarding the issuance of Hong Kong identity cards by the Immigration Department, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards (HKPICs) and Hong Kong Identity Cards issued in the past decade, with a breakdown by the applicants' gender and the age group (i.e. aged (i) below 16, (ii) 16 to 24, (iii) 25 to 40, (iv) 41 to 64 and (v) 65 or above) to which they belonged when they applied for the identity cards; and
(2) of a breakdown, by the following circumstances of issuance, of the number of HKPICs issued in the past decade:
(i) permanent residents applying for the first time upon reaching the age of 11;
(ii) permanent residents applying for a replacement card upon reaching the age of 18;
(iii) Chinese citizens, who had met the eligibility criteria for application as they had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years, applying for the first time;
(iv) non-Chinese citizens, who had met the eligibility criteria for application as they had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years and had taken Hong Kong as their place of permanent residence, applying for the first time;
(v) children under the age of 11 applying in connection with their applications for a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Passport;
(vi) cardholders applying for a replacement card because their cards were lost, destroyed, damaged or defaced;
(vii) cardholders applying for a replacement card because they had changed the registered particulars on their cards; and
(viii) applications made in other circumstances, with a breakdown of such number by the 10 most common circumstances?
Reply:
President,
(1) According to the records of the Immigration Department (ImmD), the numbers of Hong Kong Permanent Identity Cards (HKPICs) and Hong Kong Identity Cards (HKICs) issued (Note 1) in the past 10 years are tabulated below:
| Year | HKPICs | HKICs | ||||||
| Persons aged 18 or above | Persons aged 11 to 17 | Persons aged under 11 (Note 2) |
Sub-total | Persons aged 18 or above | Persons aged 11 to 17 | Persons aged under 11 (Note 2) |
Sub-total | |
| 2008 | 269 817 | 88 483 | 53 247 | 411 547 | 148 260 | 16 925 | 0 | 165 185 |
| 2009 | 241 200 | 80 440 | 63 150 | 384 790 | 150 308 | 16 284 | 0 | 166 592 |
| 2010 | 247 064 | 75 910 | 70 974 | 393 948 | 156 466 | 15 932 | 0 | 172 398 |
| 2011 | 238 933 | 74 869 | 74 666 | 388 468 | 164 940 | 15 216 | 0 | 180 156 |
| 2012 | 265 488 | 71 450 | 82 429 | 419 367 | 179 965 | 13 789 | 0 | 193 754 |
| 2013 | 254 858 | 71 428 | 78 014 | 404 300 | 166 719 | 12 647 | 0 | 179 366 |
| 2014 | 233 343 | 66 239 | 77 679 | 377 261 | 168 149 | 12 712 | 0 | 180 861 |
| 2015 | 237 944 | 66 356 | 86 690 | 390 990 | 167 412 | 12 077 | 0 | 179 489 |
| 2016 | 240 585 | 70 062 | 83 896 | 394 543 | 177 651 | 14 849 | 0 | 192 500 |
| 2017 | 231 912 | 76 930 | 78 665 | 387 507 | 177 581 | 14 348 | 0 | 191 929 |
| 2018 (January to October) |
186 182 | 69 262 | 63 134 | 318 578 | 153 005 | 11 476 | 0 | 164 481 |
ImmD has not maintained other breakdown figures mentioned in the question.
(2) The numbers of HKPICs which ImmD issued to persons aged 18 or above, persons aged 11 to 17, and persons aged under 11; and the numbers of HKPICs ImmD issued for replacement due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement of cards or changes of registered particulars on the cards in the past 10 years are tabulated below:
| Year | HKPICs | ||||
| Persons aged 18 or above (Note 3) |
Persons aged 11 to 17 (Note 3) |
Persons aged under 11 (Note 2 & 3) |
Due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement or changes of registered particulars | Sub-total | |
| 2008 | 151 068 | 74 963 | 51 842 | 133 674 | 411 547 |
| 2009 | 128 091 | 67 244 | 61 512 | 127 943 | 384 790 |
| 2010 | 120 956 | 62 175 | 69 038 | 141 779 | 393 948 |
| 2011 | 120 954 | 63 333 | 72 401 | 131 780 | 388 468 |
| 2012 | 130 276 | 58 741 | 79 990 | 150 360 | 419 367 |
| 2013 | 106 714 | 56 131 | 74 957 | 166 498 | 404 300 |
| 2014 | 99 015 | 54 920 | 74 356 | 148 970 | 377 261 |
| 2015 | 91 165 | 54 568 | 83 118 | 162 139 | 390 990 |
| 2016 | 82 496 | 59 499 | 80 671 | 171 877 | 394 543 |
| 2017 | 76 742 | 66 187 | 75 145 | 169 433 | 387 507 |
| 2018 (January to October) |
60 157 | 60 137 | 59 827 | 138 457 | 318 578 |
ImmD has not maintained other breakdown figures mentioned in the question.
Note 1: Including identity cards issued due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement, registration of identity cards for persons who have attained the age of 11 and 18, and replacement of identity cards due to changes of registered particulars, etc.
Note 2: Under the Registration of Persons Regulations, children under the age of 11 are not required to register for an identity card unless the children are Hong Kong permanent residents who need to apply for HKPICs in connection with their applications for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports.
Note 3: Excluding HKPICs issued due to loss, destruction, damage or defacement or changes of registered particulars.
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