Hong Kong exodus

Hong Kong has experienced its sharpest population drop on record as people flee political crackdowns and stringent Covid policies. The territory lost 113,200 residents in the year to June, leaving its population at 7.3 million, according to government data. The 1.6 per cent fall was the biggest in at least six decades, and marked the third consecutive year of declining population. The level of the exodus was about a third higher than the previous year, when 89,200 residents left. A Hong Kong census and statistics department spokesman said “stringent border control and quarantine measures” had disrupted migration in and out of the city