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Survey Findings on Views on Emigration from Hong KongReleased by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 23 to 27 September 2016 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to gauge public views on emigration from Hong Kong. 710 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 38.5%. The sampling error is + or – 3.68 percentage points at a confidence level of 95%.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
Around two-fifths (38.9%) of respondents indicated they would emigrate to other places if they got the chance. However, only a tenth (10.9%) of those respondents were taking actions to make preparation (equivalent to only 4.2% of the total number of respondents). A further analysis to break down the tendency of emigration by age group or level of education indicated that younger people (e.g. aged 18-30: 57.0%) had a higher tendency to emigrate compared to the older people (e.g. aged 51 and above: 26.0%). Moreover, more people with college or above education (53.8%) indicated their intention to emigrate in contrast to the number of people of other levels of education. Among those inclined to emigrate, about one in five (19.2%) hadn’t decided where to move. The most preferred destinations, ranked by popularity, were Taiwan (16.3%), Australia (15.2%), and Canada (13.8%).
Top pushing factors for emigration among those inclined to move were “dissatisfaction with SAR government / government performance / Chief Executive / high-ranking government officials” (11.0%), “overcrowded living conditions” (10.5%), “too much political dispute / social cleavage” (10.3%), and “slow economic growth or bad economic prospect” (10.3%). Top pulling factors included “ample living space” (18.8%), “more democratic or liberal” (15.8%), “to meet up with family members, relatives or friends living overseas” (8.4%), and “enjoyable life” (8.2%).
Respondents were also asked about their sense of belonging to Hong Kong. Though 42.8% of all respondents had a strong or very strong sense of belonging, 40.1% replied that it was average. When they were asked about their satisfaction with various aspects of life in Hong Kong, the fewest respondents were satisfied with political environment (7.1%), followed by educational system (16.2%), living conditions (18.2%), economic prospects (18.5%), and social welfare (30.3%).
Among all the respondents, about 11.7% had experiences of living abroad for six months or longer. 6.5% of respondents had foreign rights of abode and 30.8% had family members or relatives now living abroad. Three in five respondents (59.7%) would decline to relocate to emerging market countries if they had just started to develop their career.
Survey Findings on Views on Emigration from Hong KongReleased by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 23 to 27 September 2016 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to gauge public views on emigration from Hong Kong. 710 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 38.5%. The sampling error is + or – 3.68 percentage points at a confidence level of 95%.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
Around two-fifths (38.9%) of respondents indicated they would emigrate to other places if they got the chance. However, only a tenth (10.9%) of those respondents were taking actions to make preparation (equivalent to only 4.2% of the total number of respondents). A further analysis to break down the tendency of emigration by age group or level of education indicated that younger people (e.g. aged 18-30: 57.0%) had a higher tendency to emigrate compared to the older people (e.g. aged 51 and above: 26.0%). Moreover, more people with college or above education (53.8%) indicated their intention to emigrate in contrast to the number of people of other levels of education. Among those inclined to emigrate, about one in five (19.2%) hadn’t decided where to move. The most preferred destinations, ranked by popularity, were Taiwan (16.3%), Australia (15.2%), and Canada (13.8%).
Top pushing factors for emigration among those inclined to move were “dissatisfaction with SAR government / government performance / Chief Executive / high-ranking government officials” (11.0%), “overcrowded living conditions” (10.5%), “too much political dispute / social cleavage” (10.3%), and “slow economic growth or bad economic prospect” (10.3%). Top pulling factors included “ample living space” (18.8%), “more democratic or liberal” (15.8%), “to meet up with family members, relatives or friends living overseas” (8.4%), and “enjoyable life” (8.2%).
Respondents were also asked about their sense of belonging to Hong Kong. Though 42.8% of all respondents had a strong or very strong sense of belonging, 40.1% replied that it was average. When they were asked about their satisfaction with various aspects of life in Hong Kong, the fewest respondents were satisfied with political environment (7.1%), followed by educational system (16.2%), living conditions (18.2%), economic prospects (18.5%), and social welfare (30.3%).
Among all the respondents, about 11.7% had experiences of living abroad for six months or longer. 6.5% of respondents had foreign rights of abode and 30.8% had family members or relatives now living abroad. Three in five respondents (59.7%) would decline to relocate to emerging market countries if they had just started to develop their career.
