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Mid-year population for 2021
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     According to the statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department today (August 12), the provisional estimate of the Hong Kong population was 7 394 700 at mid-2021, representing a decrease of 87 100 or 1.2% from 7 481 800 at mid-2020 (Table 1).

     The population decrease between mid-2020 and mid-2021 comprised a natural decrease (i.e. deaths surpassing births) and net outflow of Hong Kong residents (i.e. inflow less than outflow). A natural decrease of 11 800 was recorded during the period, with 38 500 births and 50 400 deaths. Over the same period, a net outflow of 75 300 persons was recorded, with an inflow of 13 900 One-way Permit holders and a net outflow of 89 200 other Hong Kong residents.  

     "Amidst the continued impact of COVID-19, stringent border control and quarantine measures have been in place in Hong Kong and other places around the world, resulting in severe interruption of international travel. It is observed that the inflow of people into Hong Kong, including One-way Permit holders, foreign domestic helpers and those coming to work or study in Hong Kong under various admission schemes has remained at a low level. Among others, the flight boarding restrictions imposed on arrivals from certain places from time to time in the first half of 2021 due to the then prevailing COVID-19 situation had interrupted population inflow. The number of One-way Permit holders who arrived in Hong Kong from mid-2020 to mid-2021 (13 900) showed a year-on-year decrease of 37%, after a year-on-year decrease of 50% in the preceding year. Meanwhile, Hong Kong residents who had left Hong Kong before the pandemic may have chosen to remain outside Hong Kong or cannot return to Hong Kong due to flight unavailability. All these might have contributed to the net outflow of Hong Kong residents during the period," a government spokesperson said.

     "Net movement, which includes the movement of Hong Kong residents into and out of Hong Kong for various purposes including work and study, is conceptually different from immigration and emigration. Being an international city, Hong Kong’s population has always been mobile. During the past 10 years, net outflows of Hong Kong residents other than One-way Permit holders were recorded for most of the years,” the government spokesperson added.

     The Hong Kong population is measured on the definition of "Resident Population", which comprises "Usual Residents" and "Mobile Residents". Among the total population at mid-2021, 7 330 500 (provisional) were Usual Residents and 64 200 (provisional) were Mobile Residents.

     "Usual Residents" refer to two categories of people: (1) Hong Kong Permanent Residents who have stayed in Hong Kong for at least three months during the six months before or for at least three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point; and (2) Hong Kong Non-permanent Residents who are in Hong Kong at the reference time-point.

     For those Hong Kong Permanent Residents who are not "Usual Residents", they are classified as "Mobile Residents" if they have stayed in Hong Kong for at least one month but less than three months during the six months before or for at least one month but less than three months during the six months after the reference time-point, regardless of whether they are in Hong Kong or not at the reference time-point.

     The revised figure for the year-end population for 2020 was 7 428 300. The number of Usual Residents was revised to 7 342 600 and the number of Mobile Residents to 85 700. The population growth rate from end-2019 to end-2020 was also revised to -1.2%.

     The population figures for recent years are shown in Table 2.

     Under the current practice, the latest population figure is released on a provisional basis in each round. The revised figure will be released six months later. In other words, while the provisional population figure for mid-2021 is released today, the corresponding revised figure will be released in February 2022.
 
Ends/Thursday, August 12, 2021
Issued at HKT 16:30
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