As expats leave Hong Kong and mainlanders arrive, businesses and communities are counting the costs. How do they adapt?

According to the once-every-decade census, the non-Chinese population was less than half the number of about 593,000 three years ago. Although they are not directly comparable due to the inclusion of mobile residents – people who do not live there permanently – the data indicate a net outflow of foreigners.

Analysts cited key factors as the huge toll from stringent Covid-19 restrictions, as well as political changes in the wake of mass protests in 2019-20 and subsequent widespread repression by China in the form of a national security law.

They add that global financial centers such as Singapore and Dubai have also become more attractive to expatriates, especially with the pandemic and politics weighing heavily on Hong Kong.

Data from the international relocation company Asian Tigers Group for the last four years confirm this trend. While the number of people arriving remains similar, there has been an almost 50 per cent decline in the number of people leaving since 2020, highlighting the widening gap between foreigners arriving and leaving Hong Kong.

“Over the last 20 years, I have met people who have been here for over 20 years who say ‘I’m leaving’, that’s certainly (can be counted) on these 10 fingers,” Ng Yew Beng, general manager of Asian Tigers Group, said CNA.

“But in the last three or four years, I’ve had to use your fingers and toes and this guy’s fingers,” he joked, referring to the increased number of emigrants leaving.