Hong Kong’s population grew as the city dismantled pandemic curbs and the economy bounced back.
The city saw an increase of 152,000 people in 12 months to June from a year earlier, largely due to revised data for the second half of 2022, according to government data released Tuesday. The previously announced population drop of 12,900 in the second half was revised to a gain of 126,500, the data showed.
“Many Hong Kong residents who stayed abroad during the epidemic have returned to Hong Kong, while some Mainland and overseas persons have also been admitted to Hong Kong through various schemes,” a government spokesperson said in a statement accompanying the data.
Since 2020, tens of thousands of people left the financial hub as strict pandemic curbs and a Beijing-imposed national security law restricted activists and reshaped civil society. Among those who have left include lawyers, banks and other professionals who helped make the city freewheeling.
The increase in population may help the Asian hub’s efforts to revitalize its economy after its borders reopened ending years of pandemic isolation. The financial hub’s tourism industry, in particular, has struggled to find workers to staff its restaurants and hotels.
Under the revised figures, the population grew by 1% in 2022, the first increase in three years. Previously the government had recorded a decline. For the 12 months to end-June, the gain was 2.1%.
The improved figures for the last six months of 2022 came from a revised increase of 249,000 mobile residents, which the government defines as residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least one month but less than three months in a six-month period.
Hong Kong narrowed its economic growth forecast for the year last week to a range of 4% to 5%, as an initial post-pandemic activity boom falters and challenges from China and the rest of the world weigh on the financial hub.
The city’s crackdown on dissent under a Beijing-imposed national security law was also a push factor behind departures. That campaign has raised questions about the Asian hub’s liberal institutions and legal system that underpin the former British colony’s status as a financial center.
--With assistance from Young-Sam Cho.
