60,000 exited city for good last year
Top News | Wallis Wang 17 Feb 2023
Although the population slightly rebounded from 7.29 million in mid-2022, Hong Kong still recorded a decrease of 68,300 people from the 7.4 million at the end of 2021.
The drop between 2021 and last year comprised of a natural decrease due to deaths surpassing births and an outflow of residents, the department said.
Hong Kong recorded 32,500 births and 62,100 deaths, causing a natural decrease of 29,500, the department said, adding that the gap between deaths and births widened last year.
"Hong Kong's fertility rate is persistently among the lowest in Asian economies," a government spokesman said.
"The number of births dropped significantly from 52,900 in 2019 to 32,500 in 2022. And the number of deaths edged up from 49,000 to 62,100 over the same period under the fifth wave of the epidemic and in tandem with the aging population."
Hong Kong also saw a net outflow of 38,800 people as 21,200 people moved to Hong Kong holding one-way permits while 60,000 Hongkongers emigrated.
"Amid the continued impact of Covid, cross-boundary travel has been interrupted," the spokesman said.
"The inflow of people has remained at a low level for most of 2022 but there was a slight rebound toward the end of the year as the gradual relaxation of anti-epidemic control measures was introduced."
The outflow of Hongkongers includes those leaving the city for various purposes such as work, study and migration. But since Hong Kong residents traveling overseas are not required to declare their travel purposes, the government does not have a clear number of emigrants.
"Being an international city, Hong Kong's population has always been mobile," said the spokesman. "During the past 10 years, a net outflow of Hong Kong residents was recorded for most of the years."
He added that the pandemic situation has also impacted talent inflow.
"Relevant factors which affected talent inflow will dissipate gradually when the society and economy of Hong Kong further returns to normality amid the city's resumption of normal travel with the mainland and the rest of the world," he said.
The government has come up with various talent-attraction campaigns to beef up the workforce.
Authorities have also set "performance indicators" on the pooling of talent with an aim to attract 35,000 workers every year, with each staying for at least 12 months.
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