Young people in Hong Kong are less likely to be married than in the past, reflecting trends towards marriage at later ages or remaining single, according to a 2011 Population Census report published Monday.

The proportion of young people aged 15 to 24 who had never married rose from 96.2 percent in 2001 to 97.9 percent in 2011, while the proportion of married people who were aged 15 to 24 dropped from 3.6 percent in 2001 to 2 percent in 2011, said the report.

At the same time, more young people are attending post-secondary education, with 39.3 percent of the same age group doing so in 2011, compared with 19.5 percent in 2001.

The report also showed that 94.6 percent of young people lived with parents and about 1 percent lived on their own. The most common type of housing for this age group was private permanent housing at 42.9 percent, with 38 percent living in public rental housing.

There were 860,002 people aged 15 to 24 in Hong Kong in 2011, constituting 12.6 percent of the whole population of 7.1 million. This showed a decrease from 887,432 youths in 2001.