Seventy per cent of people surveyed in the city of 6,8 million said they believed humans are not alone in the universe, but only four percent said they had seen an unidentified flying object, and one percent said they had met an alien.

The results, published in Friday's South China Morning Post, come from a regional survey by market research firm Synovate, which asked people's attitudes about extraterrestrial life and UFOs.

The survey - involving interviews with 5 500 people in Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, India and South Korea - found that people in China were most likely to believe in alien life forms.

Their interest in extraterrestrials appears to have been spurred by China's recent manned missions into space, which have generated enormous interest among young people.

Hong Kong ranked second in believing in life on other planets, but people in the territory were the most skeptical among those surveyed when it came to spotting UFOs and little green men.

The study also found that 61 percent of Hong Kong parents hope their children will be astronauts and 76 percent would pay $20-million (about R130-million) to fly to the moon, if they had the money. - Sapa-dpa

Story continues: int.iol.co.za.