Hong Kong's overall level of cleanliness has improved, according to the first Community Cleanliness Index.

Released today, the new index, disclosing findings of two quarterly surveys conducted in May and August, recorded a Hong Kong-wide score of 101.5, derived from the average scores of Hong Kong's 18 districts.

Assistant Director for Home Affairs Patrick Li said the figure represents a slight improvement, and called on the public to continue efforts to establish a high standard of community hygiene.

"We need the co-operation of every member of the community to make Hong Kong a cleaner city," he said.

For individual districts, Mr Li said 11 showed improvements in cleanliness, while the remaining seven saw a slight drop.

The average score of the May assessment is translated into a base period index of 100. After that, the cleanliness index of each district is assessed according to the percentage of change between its average score in the base period and the current period.

Some 180 raters conducted each round of assessment at 302 venues. For the August round, the cleanliness level for markets, public housing estates, private buildings, pavements and streets, and sitting-out and amenity areas improved over May, while the cleanliness of public toilets and rear lanes recorded a decline.

District Officers will work with District Clean Hong Kong Committees and community organisations to devise an improvement strategy.