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Provisional government data revealed on Tuesday (Aug. 15) that Hong Kong’s population increased by 2.1% from the middle of last year to June this year. This is the first significant increase since a decreasing trend due to strict COVID-19 regulations started in 2020.
The city’s population increased by 152,000 in the 12 months leading up to June from a year earlier, bringing it to 7,498,100 by mid-2023.
The number was the highest since the city’s mid-year population of 7,507,900 in 2019.
Tens of thousands of people have departed the financial center since 2020 as a result of stringent pandemic restrictions, a national security law enforced by Beijing, which jailed activists and altered civil society, and other factors. Lawyers, bankers, and other professionals who contributed to the city’s frenzied atmosphere are among those who have departed.
The Asian hub’s efforts to revive its economy when its borders reopened, ending years of epidemic isolation, may be aided by the rise in population.
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Staffing Issues and Post-Pandemic Challenges
Finding employees to staff its restaurants and hotels has proven to be difficult for the tourist industry in particular.
The government forecasts that 8.19 million people will live in Hong Kong by the middle of 2046, and it also announced a number of initiatives to attract talent and import labor to support this expansion.
The population of the city is anticipated to continue to age while the fertility rate is anticipated to stay low.
In response to a faltering initial post-pandemic activity boom and challenges from China and the rest of the world, Hong Kong this week reduced its economic growth target for 2023 to a range of 4 to 5%.
Another driving force behind withdrawals was the city’s crackdown on dissent under a Beijing-imposed national security law. The liberal institutions and legal framework that support the Asian hub’s status as a financial center have come under scrutiny because of that effort.
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Source: The Straits Time
