Hong Kong population increases by 152,000 as at mid-2023

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One of the reasons for this is that 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 into Hong Kong through various schemes.

According to the statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the provisional estimate of the Hong Kong population was 7,498,100 at mid-2023, representing an increase of 152,000 or 2.1% from mid-2022.

Hong Kong's mid-year population for 2023 stands as follows:

A government spokesperson pointed out that with the gradual relaxation of anti-epidemic control measures since the second half of 2022, normal travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland and other parts of the world has been progressively resumed. 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 into Hong Kong through various schemes. A large net inflow of Hong Kong residents was hence recorded in the first half of 2023.

On the other hand, according to the C&SD's Hong Kong population projections for 2022-2046, the Hong Kong resident population will reach 8.19mn in mid-2046, an increase of 780,000 from the mid-2021 population of 7.41mn; while the total labour force will generally increase from 3.54mn in 2021 to a peak of 3.66mn in 2038, before decreasing gradually to 3.58mn in 2046.

Population ageing is expected to continue. The number of elderly persons aged 65 and over is projected to nearly double over the 25-year period, expecting to increase from 1.45mn in 2021 to 2.74mn in 2046. The corresponding proportion of the population is projected to increase from 20.5% to 36.0%, meaning more than one in every three Hong Kong people will be an elderly. Due to the increasing proportion of elderly persons in the total population, the overall labour force participation rate (i.e. the proportion of the labour force in the land-based non-institutional population aged 15 and over) is projected to decrease from 57.2% in 2021 to 51.6% in 2046.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's fertility rate is expected to remain low. The total fertility rate (i.e. the number of children born alive to 1,000 women during their lifetime) is projected to rebound slightly from 772 in 2021 to 938 in 2046. The spokesperson said that the trend of population ageing and low fertility rate will persist in the future, leading to a change in the composition of domestic households and the supply of labour force.

As such, the HKSAR Government has launched a number of talent attraction and labour importation schemes in recent years. The spokesperson said these policies are conducive to pooling talents from outside Hong Kong, which will become a crucial driving force for future population growth in the next two decades or so, and thus the overall population will gradually increase. Throughout the projection period, there would be a net population inflow (i.e. inflow less outflow) of 1.52mn which comprise 890,000 One-way Permit holders, and 510,000 Hong Kong Non-permanent Residents admitted through various schemes.

Hong Kong's low fertility trend is also reflected in the latest findings released by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong (FPAHK). According to FPAHK's The Family Planning Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) in Hong Kong Survey 2022, childless couples more than doubled in proportion to 43.2% compared with five years earlier, while the average parity plunged to a new record low of 0.9 despite more women desired to have children in Hong Kong.

More women in this survey compared with five years earlier indicated that various financial incentives, strengthened parental support from employers and society, and improvement in the quality of education might incentivise them to have more children, particularly among women with only one child, followed by those without children.

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