Losing them young: Hongkongers in their early 20s are biggest emigrating group in worrying trend for ageing society
- City’s population aged 20-24 shrinks as residents take advantage of easier emigration pathways offered by Canada and Britain
- Government must find ways to address concerns of young or risk seeing more leave, expert says
Young people in their early 20s have emerged as the main group of Hongkongers who have left the city over the past five years, according to official figures.
The city’s population fell across almost all age groups since 2017, with the sharpest decline among those aged 20-24. The city lost 22,190 of them, as their number slid 7 per cent from 312,290 to 290,100.
Next were children aged 10 to 14, whose numbers fell by about 10,000 to 290,600, a 4 per cent drop, a Post analysis showed.
Population expert Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai said those in their early 20s were mostly fresh graduates targeted by Western countries hoping to boost their workforce through easier emigration pathways for Hongkongers.
He found the loss of young graduates worrying, and said Hong Kong’s leaders had to address the implications for the workforce and economy, especially with the city’s ageing population and declining birth rate.
“Every country is happy to take young people in their 20s, as they readily enter the workforce, but we in Hong Kong are losing them. The government really needs to take some remedial measures,” said Yip, who is a professor of population health at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
The government announced last month that more than 113,000 residents had left Hong Kong over the past 12 months, making for a record 1.6 per cent drop in the population.
