GOV.cn  Friday, June 29, 2007 

Following are facts and figures of Hong Kong's 10 years after its return to China:

-- Hong Kong was listed as the world's freest economy for the 13th consecutive year by the U.S.-based Heritage Foundation and the Asian Wall Street Journal on Jan. 16, 2007.

-- By May 2007, 20.48 million mainland tourists had visited Hong Kong under the "Individual Tourism Scheme."

-- In 2006, Hong Kong's stock market raised fund of a record 524.5 billion HK dollars, doubling the 1997 figure.

-- In the first quarter of 2007, Hong Kong registered 6,700 cases of Residential Mortgage Loans in negative equity, down 94 percent from 106,000 ones in June 2003 when the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic hit Hong Kong.

-- Hong Kong remains one of the safest big cities in the world. In 2006, Hong Kong reported 81,125 criminal cases, or 1,183 cases per 100,000 population.

-- In 2006, Hong Kong reported 34,500 marriage registration cases between residents of Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

-- Hong Kong registered an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent in the March-May period in 2007, the lowest in the past nine years. In the spring of 2003 during the attack of SARS epidemic, Hong Kong's unemployment rate rose to a record high of 8.3 percent.

-- Horse racing is still one of the greatest attraction magnets in Hong Kong, with 1.2 million people gambling on every racing day.

-- A total of 134 countries and regions have given visa-free access to holders of HKSAR passports so far. At the end of 1997, holders of HKSAR passports enjoyed visa-free access to 44 countries and regions.