Statistics

2024 Health Manpower Survey
Summary of the Characteristics of Chiropractors Enumerated

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I.   Registered Chiropractors Covered

1.1  The chiropractors covered in the 2024 Health Manpower Survey on Chiropractors (HMS-CHIRO) were chiropractors registered with the Chiropractors Council under the Chiropractors Registration Ordinance (Chapter 428) as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024.

1.2  The number of chiropractors covered was 329.

II.   Response Rate

2.1  Of the 329 chiropractors covered, 177 responded to the survey, including 57 (32.2%) who submitted their responses through the online platform and 120 (67.8%) who submitted by post, giving an overall response rate of 53.8% (Chart A).

III.   Activity Status

3.1  The responding chiropractors were classified as either “economically active”¹ or “economically inactive”¹ based on their status as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024.

3.2  Economically active (“active”) chiropractors included:

1. “employed” chiropractors - chiropractors practising in the chiropractic profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date; and
2. “unemployed” chiropractors - chiropractors who (i) were not practising in the local chiropractic profession as at the survey reference date; (ii) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey reference date²; AND (iii) had sought work in the local chiropractic profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date³.

3.3  Economically inactive (“inactive”) chiropractors referred to the responding chiropractors who were not practising in the chiropractic profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date, excluding those who were on leave and who were “economically active” but “unemployed”.

3.4  Among the 177 responding chiropractors, 148 (83.6%) were active and 29 (16.4%) were inactive as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024 (Chart A).

3.5  Of the 148 active chiropractors enumerated, 145 (98.0%) were practising in the local chiropractic profession, two (1.4%) were seeking jobs in the local chiropractic profession and one (0.7%) reported that he/she was available for work but had not sought work during the 30 days before the survey reference date as he/she was waiting to take up a new job in the chiropractic profession (Chart A).

1	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.
2	The respondent would be classified as “unemployed” if he/she had sought work in the local chiropractic profession but had not been available for work because of temporary sickness.
3	The respondent would 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; had made arrangements to take up a new job; was starting business on a subsequent date; or was expecting to return to the original job in the local chiropractic profession.

3.6  Of the 29 inactive chiropractors enumerated, 19 (65.5%) reported practising overseas and two (6.9%) reported practising in other areas of the Mainland and two (6.9%) were not available for work. Among the six (20.7%) inactive chiropractors who reported not seeking jobs in the local chiropractic profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date, the reasons included: two had retired, two were engaged in household duties, one wanted to take a rest/had no motive to work/had no financial need, and one was due to other reasons. (Chart A).

Notes:	*	Figure refers to the number of chiropractors who had registered with the Chiropractors Council under the Chiropractors Registration Ordinance (Chapter 428) as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024.
	†	Figure refers to the number of responding chiropractors who (a) were not practising in the chiropractic profession in Hong Kong as at the survey reference date; (b) had been available for work in the local chiropractic profession during the seven days before the survey reference date; AND (c) had sought work in the local chiropractic profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date.
	§	Figure refers to the number of responding chiropractors who were not available for work in the local chiropractic profession during the seven days before the survey reference date.
	‖	Figure refers to the number of responding chiropractors who reported not seeking work in the local chiropractic profession during the 30 days before the survey reference date due to other reasons.
	Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

IV.   Characteristics of Active Local Chiropractors Enumerated

4.1  The survey results presented in this section were based on the information provided by 145 responding chiropractors who were practising in the local chiropractic profession as at the survey reference date of 30 September 2024 (hereafter referred to as “active local chiropractors”).

4.2  Of the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated, there were 97 (66.9%) male and 44 (30.3%) female. The remaining four (2.8%) respondents did not indicate their gender. Among the 141 respondents who indicated their gender, the overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) was 221. The median age of the 144 active local chiropractors enumerated who reported their age was 40.0 years. Among 141 responding chiropractors with known age and gender, the median age of females and males was 37.0 years and 41.0 years respectively.

4.3  The respondents were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs⁴. Among the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated, 143 (98.6%) reported that their main jobs were in the private sector. Among them, 84 (58.7%) were in group practice and the remaining 59 (41.3%) were in solo practice.

4.4  Among the 143 active local chiropractors enumerated who indicated their ages and the sectors of their main jobs, the median age for respondents working in solo practice was 43.0 years and 34.5 years for those working in group practice.

4.5  Respondents were asked to indicate the time spent on different fields of practice. The primary field of practice is defined as the field in which they spent most of their working time. Of the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated, 139 (95.9%) worked in service in chiropractic and one (0.7%) in administration/ management as the primary field of practice. One (0.7%) did not indicate his/her field of practice.

4.6  Among the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated who reported their weekly working hours, the median number of hours of work per week (excluding meal breaks) was 40.0 hours. Among the 145 respondents, 23 (15.9%) were required to undertake on-call duty, with a median of 5.0 hours of on-call duty per week (excluding normal duty).

4.7  Of the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated, 126 (86.9%) indicated that they had clinical consultations and 19 (13.1%) did not indicate if they had clinical consultations. Among these 126 respondents, 117 (92.9%) reported to encounter no more than 5 clinical consultations/patients on average per working hour and nine (7.1%) reported to encounter 6 or more clinical consultations/patients on average per working hour.

4.8  Among the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated, 67 (46.2%) held Doctoral Degree issued by overseas institutions, 36 (24.8%) held Master’s Degree issued by overseas institutions and 32 (22.1%) held Bachelor’s Degree issued by overseas institutions as their earliest basic qualification.

4.9  Of the 145 active local chiropractors enumerated, 82 (56.6%) had obtained additional training after obtaining their earliest basic qualification and 63 (43.4%) did not obtain any additional training. Of the 82 respondents who reported having obtained additional training, 37 (45.1%) held Certificate, ten (12.2%) held Doctoral Degree and nine (11.0%) held Master’s Degree as the highest level of qualification obtained through additional training.

4	Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the chiropractors had spent most of their working time.

4.10  Of the 82 respondents who had obtained additional training after obtaining their earliest basic qualification, 22 (26.8%) had obtained additional training in one field only, which included training in chiropractic (40.9%), acupuncture (22.7%), neurology (9.1%) and sports injuries (4.5%).

4.11  Of the 82 respondents who had obtained additional training, 60 (73.2%) had obtained more than one field of additional training. The most commonly reported fields included: chiropractic which was reported by 45 (75.0%) of the respondents, sports injuries which was reported by 31 (51.7%) of the respondents, rehabilitation which was reported by 26 (43.3%) of the respondents, acupuncture which was reported by 24 (40.0%) of the respondents and musculoskeletal diseases management which was reported by 23 (38.3%) of the respondents.

V.   Trend Observation

5.1  The number of chiropractors covered in HMS-CHIRO increased from 27 in 1996 to 329 in 2024 (Chart B).

5.2  Selected characteristics of active local chiropractors collected during the survey years between 1996 and 2024 were tabulated for reference (Table A).

5.3  The distribution of chiropractors across employment sectors has remained stable since 1996. All the responding active local chiropractors enumerated from 1996 to 2024 reported practising in the private sector (Table A).

5.4  Due to the small number of chiropractors covered and subsequent changes in survey methodology, direct comparisons of the sex ratio across years are subject to limitations (Table A).

5.5  Data on median age was recorded from the 2000 survey onwards. The median age of the respondents ranged from 39.0 years to 44.0 years during 2000 to 2024.