89.6% (2002)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):

total: 14 years
male: 14 years
female: 13 years (2006)

Education expenditures:

3.9% of GDP (2006)

Government
Hong Kong

Country name:

conventional long form: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
conventional short form: Hong Kong
local long form: Xianggang Tebie Xingzhengqu
local short form: Xianggang
abbreviation: HK

Dependency status:

special administrative region of China

Government type:

limited democracy

Administrative divisions:

none (special administrative region of China)

Independence:

none (special administrative region of China)

National holiday:

National Day (Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic
of China), 1 October (1949); note - 1 July 1997 is celebrated as
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day

Constitution:

Basic Law, approved in March 1990 by China's National People's
Congress, is Hong Kong's "mini-constitution"

Legal system:

based on English common law

Suffrage:

direct election - 18 years of age for a number of non-executive
positions; universal for permanent residents living in the territory
of Hong Kong for the past seven years; indirect election - limited
to about 220,000 members of functional constituencies and an
800-member election committee drawn from broad regional groupings,
central government bodies, and municipal organizations

Executive branch:

chief of state: President of China HU Jintao (since 15 March 2003)
head of government: Chief Executive Donald TSANG (since 24 June 2005)
cabinet: Executive Council consists of 15 official members and 16
non-official members
elections: chief executive elected for five-year term by 800-member
electoral committee; last held on 25 March 2007 (next to be held in
2012)
election results: Donald TSANG elected chief executive receiving
84.1% of the vote of the election committee; Alan LEONG received
15.9%

Legislative branch:

unicameral Legislative Council or LEGCO (60 seats; 30 seats
indirectly elected by functional constituencies, 30 elected by
popular vote; members serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 7 September 2008 (next to be held in September
2012)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by parties -
pro-Beijing 37; pro-democracy 23

Judicial branch:

Court of Final Appeal in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region