HONG KONG -- Hong Kong recorded a decline in its population last year for the first time in 17 years, as the city logged more deaths than births due to the coronavirus pandemic, a persistently low birthrate and an increase in emigration in light of a new national security law.
The financial hub's population fell to 7.47 million in 2020, a 0.6% decrease from a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department said on Thursday in its annual population report.