1 in 3 Hongkongers want to move abroad despite city’s improved liveability: poll

A local university poll has found that about one-third of Hongkongers are likely to move abroad despite the city’s improved liveability score, a result consistent with last year.

A Chinese University of Hong Kong survey revealed just over 34 per cent of residents said they would emigrate overseas if given the opportunity, a difference the institution said was “not statistically significant” compared with the 37.7 per cent who expressed the same a year prior.

Of those who said they would like to move, 26.6 per cent said they had prepared to do so.

But Hong Kong’s liveability score showed a marked improvement over the year prior. On a scale of zero to 100, with the higher end being better, residents scored Hong Kong at 60.8, compared with 56.5 last year.

The findings on relocation aspirations were still lower than the 42 per cent recorded in 2021 and the 44 per cent the previous year, a period that saw more residents leaving the city amid Beijing’s imposition of the national security law and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The top reasons cited by residents wanting to move abroad included “dismal economic situation or overcast economic future” (23.8 per cent), “undemocratic political system (14.9 per cent), “excessive political disputes or unstable politics (14.1 per cent), and “poor living environment or congested living space” (12.5 per cent).