Hong Kong’s population is once again 7.5-plus million residents, in large part due to people returning to the city once all Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted in the first half of 2023. The new figures released by the Census and Statistics Department as part of the 2023 year-end provisional population estimate show that the population of Hong Kong is now 7,503,100, up 0.4% from 2022.
According to the government spokesperson, “The population registered an increase for the second consecutive year since normalcy resumed in Hong Kong. Many Hong Kong residents who stayed abroad during the epidemic have returned to Hong Kong throughout 2023. In the second half of 2023, there was still considerable inflow of Hong Kong Permanent Residents.”
The population of Hong Kong has been steadily increasing since 2012 and was the highest in 2019, when the government estimated that 7,520,500 lived in the city. However, the population dipped in 2020 by 1.2% and further dropped in 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak internationally and the city’s anti-epidemic restrictions were at their most stringent.
However, more than 100,000 residents returned to Hong Kong between 2022 and 2023, after the city lifted all of its anti-Covid measures, such as mandatory hotel quarantine requirement, compulsory mask-wearing in public spaces, and pre-arrival Covid testing. In all, 51,700 Hong Kong residents returned to the SAR in the past year, with 40,800 One-way Permit holders and 10,800 other Hong Kong residents also entering the territory in the same period.
Header image credits: xavierarnau via Canva
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