Around 113,200 residents have left Hong Kong over the past 12 months, ending on June 30, 2022, according to provisional figures released from the city’s Census and Statistics Department on Thursday. The new figures signal that Hong Kong was facing a continuing emigration wave. The number of resident departures over the same period last year was 89,200. Overall, Hong Kong’s population shrank 1.6% to 7.29 million people in the last 12 months. The 1.6% drop in population is the steepest decline on record, based on the government’s dataset tracking back to 1961. Migration expert Lucy Jordan, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, tells CNN's Kristie Lu Stout: "We are witnessing a historic departure."
