Upsurge of citizens planning to live in mainland

One in five Hong Kong citizens wish to live in the mainland, a Chinese University of Hong Kong survey has found.

The finding marked a significant increase - almost by 100 percent - from the figures last year even though Hong Kong's rating as a liveable city has remained unchanged.

The Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of CUHK asked 708 adults by telephone from September 28 to November 9 on their intention to move overseas or to the mainland and 20 percent of the respondents said they would like to live in the mainland due to SAR's high living costs, quick pace and crowded living environment.

The number of those expressing a wish to live in the mainland nearly doubled that of last year.

Among the top factors affecting them were Hong Kong's rising living costs that accounted for 36.1 percent; and poor living environment, crowded living space and expensive housing (13.4 percent).

A total of 10.6 percent of the respondents also found it stressful to live in Hong Kong due to its quick pace.

Meanwhile, 38 percent expressed a desire to emigrate overseas - 9.3 percentage points up from that of last year. The destinations mostly cited were the UK (14.2 percent), Australia (12.2 percent), Canada (11 percent) and Taiwan (10.6 percent).

The top factors inspiring the respondents to consider these places were their "good living environment/ample living space" (21.4 percent), "more liberty/freedom of expression" (14.4 percent), "family members' preference/family reunion/having relatives and friends there/having right of abode" (13.6 percent) and "low cost of living/low consumer prices" (9.8 percent).

Over half of the respondents, or 58.2 percent, agreed that the current "wave of emigration" was a loss for Hong Kong in respect of its long-term development whereas over a quarter, thus 25.6 percent, failed to see any impact.

Only 8.9 percent held a positive outlook on the SAR's long-term development.

On the question of livability, the city scored an average of 56.5 on a scale 100 with "0" being very unlivable and "100" being very livable. The score was about the same as last year's and slightly higher than the 52.1 recorded in 2021.

According to the data published by the Census and Statistics Department in August, the population of Hong Kong received a boost of 2.1 percent as a result of a net surge of around 174,000 residents including 31,000 one-way permit holders and a net inflow of 143,000 other residents.