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Statistics

2021 Health Manpower Survey on Physiotherapists
Key Findings

The physiotherapists covered in the 2021 Health Manpower Survey on Physiotherapists (HMS-PT) were physiotherapists registered with the Physiotherapists Board of Hong Kong under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Chapter 359) as at the survey reference date of 31 July 2021, and who had provided written consent on receiving information related to HMS-PT by post or email.

Among the 3 919 physiotherapists registered with the Physiotherapists Board of Hong Kong as at the survey reference date of 31 July 2021, 1 031 had consented to receive information related to HMS-PT by post or email. The number of physiotherapists covered was 1 031.

Of the 1 031 physiotherapists covered, 284 responded to the HMS-PT, giving an overall response rate of 27.5% (See Chart).

Among the 284 responding physiotherapists, 252 (88.7%) were “active” *† and 32 (11.3%) were “inactive” *‡ in the local physiotherapy profession as at 31 July 2021 (See Chart).

Of the 252 active physiotherapists, 251 (99.6%) were practising in the local physiotherapy profession and one (0.4%) was seeking job in the physiotherapy profession.

The survey findings presented below were based on the 251 responding physiotherapists who were practising in the local physiotherapy profession as at 31 July 2021. The percentages presented below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding (See Chart).

  1. Of the 251 active physiotherapists practising in the local physiotherapy profession enumerated, there were 116 (46.2%) male, 132 (52.6%) female and three (1.2%) did not indicate the gender, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 88. Excluding two respondents who did not indicate their ages, the median age of the remaining 249 was 43.0 years (median age of female was 43.0 years and median age of male was 44.0 years).
  2. The responding active physiotherapists practising in the local physiotherapy profession were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs§. Of the 251 respondents, 112 (44.6%) reported as working in private sector, 62 (24.7%) were working in the Hospital Authority, 51 (20.3%) were working in subvented sector, 14 (5.6%) were working in academic sector, five (2.0%) were working in the Government sector and seven (2.4%) did not indicate the sectors for their main jobs.
    3. * In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong
    † Economically active (“active”) physiotherapists included: (a) “employed” physiotherapists – physiotherapists practising in the physiotherapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; and (b) “unemployed” physiotherapists - physiotherapists who (i) were not practising in the local physiotherapy profession during the survey period; (ii) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey AND (iii) had sought work in the local physiotherapy profession during the 30 days before the survey. The respondent would be classified as “unemployed” if he / she had sought work in the local physiotherapy profession but had not been available for work because of temporary sickness.
    The respondent would also be classified as “unemployed” if he / she fulfilled conditions (i) and (ii) but had not sought work during the 30 days before enumeration because he / she believed that work was not available; or had made arrangements to take up a new job; or was starting business on a subsequent date; or was expecting to return to the original job in the local physiotherapy profession.
    ‡ Economically inactive (“inactive”) physiotherapists referred to the responding physiotherapists who were not practising in the physiotherapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, excluding those who were on leave during the survey period and who were “economically active” but “unemployed”.
    § Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the physiotherapists had spent most of their working time.
  3. Of the 251 active physiotherapists practising in the local physiotherapy profession enumerated, 75.3% reported spending most of their working time on rehabilitation, while 11.2% reported spending most of their working time on administration/ management, 6.4% reported primary health care†, 5.6% reported teaching and 1.2% reported research as the main area of work.
  4. Excluding one active respondent who did not indicate his / her hours of work per week (excluding meal breaks), the median number of hours of work per week (excluding meal breaks) of the remaining 250 active physiotherapists practising in the local physiotherapy profession enumerated was 44.0 hours. Among them, 21 (8.4%) were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 8.0 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.

Of the 32 inactive physiotherapists enumerated (See Chart) :

  1. 18 (56.3%) reported not seeking jobs in the local physiotherapy profession during the 30 days before enumeration. Among the 18 inactive physiotherapists who reported not seeking jobs in the local physiotherapy profession, the main reasons included: seven (38.9%) were working in other professions, four (22.2%) were retired, three (16.7%) were engaged in household duties, three (16.7%) reported as wanting to take rest/ had no motive to work/ had no financial need and one (5.6%) had emigrated.
  2. 14 (43.8%) reported practising overseas.
† Refers to work such as health education, health promotion, or work involving patient care in the primary care setting.
Activity Status of Physiotherapists Covered

Text Version

Notes: * Figure refers to the number of physiotherapists who had registered with the Physiotherapists Board of Hong Kong under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Chapter 359) on or before 31.7.2021, and who had provided written consent to receive information related to HMS-PT by post or email.
† Figure refers to the number of responding physiotherapists who (a) were not practising in the physiotherapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; AND (c) had sought work in the local physiotherapy profession during the 30 days before the survey.
‡ Figure refers to the number of responding physiotherapists who reported as wanting to rest/ no motive to work/ no financial need or having emigrated.
Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Last Revision Date : 25 Jan 2024