Hong Kong population drops for 3rd year under COVID shadow

Hong Kong’s government announced Thursday that the territory’s population dropped for a third straight year as deaths rose during the pandemic and anti-virus measures reduced the number of arriving workers, but did not mention an exodus of residents sparked by a crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
The city’s population declined 0.9% to 7.3 million at the end of 2022 from a year earlier, according to provisional data released by the Census and Statistics Department. It said there was a net outflow of 60,000 residents, with 21,200 new residents arriving.
For much of the pandemic, Hong Kong followed mainland China’s stringent “zero COVID” strategy, deterring professionals from moving into the international financial hub.
Thursday’s announcement gave no clue regarding how many people had left for political reasons but said there was a slight rebound in inflows near the end of last year after officials gradually relaxed anti-virus controls.