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Comment by chrismarlow9 | Hacker News Reader

Wolframalpha reports hong kong as 4th most dense country (for anyone wondering):

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=population+density+by+c...

True, but it's a bit misleading. Although the developed areas of Hong Kong are quite literally wall-to-wall skyscrapers, the majority of Hong Kong's land is undeveloped country parks and village areas.

Less than 25% of total land area of ~400 sq. mi. is actually developed.[0] The average density of those developed areas is thus incredibly high. Mong Kok for example, has a density of 340,000 / sq. mi., which is described as the highest population density of any district in the world.[1]

[0] http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/facts.htm

[1] http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/11/world_population_wh...

the majority of Hong Kong's land is undeveloped country parks and village areas. Less than 25% of [...] is actually developed

That is nothing short of astonishing. Are the parks and undeveloped areas open to the public?

Yes. Hiking is really popular from what I understand. http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/great-outdoors/hi...

Yes, although it's somewhat bittersweet. I can't think of another city of similar size where I can live 5-minutes by car from the center of the business/entertainment district and a 5-minute walk from being in the middle of the forest. To give a visual example, this (very high end) residential building is about 10-minutes by car from the middle of the city:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hong_Kong_Parkview_2.jpg

The downside is that housing is close to the least affordable in the world with respect to median income. The average flat size is ~450 sq. ft., (of which typically less than 80% is actually the inside of the flat itself).

There have been a number of photo exhibits of late depicting the housing conditions that a significant portion of the population have to deal with:

http://www.psfk.com/2013/02/hong-kong-micro-slums.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306842/Stunning-ima...

This is the best thing about Hong Kong. Finish work at 7, take a 10 minute metro to the base of a mountain, do a 3 hour hike before bed.

Check out the view from abovehttp://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=honkong

In the dark? Doesn't the sun set around 8pm at the latest?

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