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Hongkongers (), Hong Kongers, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people are Demonym that refer to a resident of Hong Kong, although they may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory.
The earliest inhabitants of Hong Kong were indigenous villagers such as the Punti and Tanka people, who inhabited the area prior to British colonization.
Though Hong Kong is home to a number of people of different racial and ethnic origins, the overwhelming majority of Hongkongers are of Chinese peoples descent. Many are Yue Chinese–speaking Cantonese people people and trace their ancestral home to the adjacent province of Guangdong.
The territory is also home to other groups of Chinese peoples including the Taishan Yue, Hakka people, Hoklo people, Teochew people, Shanghainese, Sichuanese and Shandong people. Meanwhile, non-Chinese Hongkongers such as the British, Filipinos, Indonesians, Thais, South Asians and Vietnamese make up six percent of Hong Kong's population.
In contrast, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of American English adopts the form Hong Konger instead. The form Hong Konger also seems to be preferred by governments around the world. In 2008, the U.S. Government Publishing Office decided to include Hong Konger as a demonym for Hong Kong in its official Style guide. The Companies House of the UK government similarly added Hong Konger to its standard list of nationalities in September 2020.
The aforementioned terms all translate to the same term in Cantonese, 香港人 (). The direct translation of this is Hong Kong person.
During the British colonial era, terms like Hong Kong Chinese and Hong Kong Britons were used to distinguish the British and Chinese populations that lived in the territory.
The Basic Law allows residents to acquire right of abode by birth in Hong Kong, or in some other ways. For example, residents of China may settle in Hong Kong for family reunification purposes if they obtain a one-way permit (for which there may be a waiting time of several years). As of 2024, the average waiting time for a one-way permit has been reported to range from 3 to 5 years, depending on individual circumstances and quotas set by the Mainland authorities.
Formally speaking, the government of Hong Kong does not confer its own citizenship, although the term Hong Kong citizen is used colloquially to refer to permanent residents of the city. Hong Kong does not require a language or civic test for permanent residency. However, for Chinese nationality applications through naturalisation, basic proficiency in Cantonese and knowledge of local customs may be considered as part of the discretionary process.; quote: "However, it has to be pointed out that the knowledge of the Chinese language is only one of the factors to be considered. This does not imply that applicants who do not know Chinese will be refused, nor will those who know Chinese necessarily be eligible for naturalisation as Chinese nationals. ... At this stage, we have no plan to institute examinations similar to those used by some foreign countries in handling naturalisation applications." However, Hong Kong migrants and residents are assumed to understand their obligation under Article 24 of the Hong Kong Basic Law to abide by the laws of Hong Kong.
As of 2024, discussions have emerged regarding potential amendments to clarify residency status, especially in light of geopolitical shifts and emigration trends. No official changes have been implemented yet, but reviews are ongoing.
Simultaneously, there has been an increase in the number of new immigrants from mainland China, influencing both demographic composition and linguistic trends in the territory. At the same time Mainland China holds the largest number of Hong Kong residents outside of Hong Kong.
| +Hong Kong population by ancestral origin (1961–1981) |
| 2.5 |
| 49.2 |
| 16.3 |
| 11.4 |
| 9.4 |
| 7.0 |
| 2.1 |
| 2.0 |
| + Proportion of Population (5+) Able to Speak Selected Languages |
| +Estimated number of adherents in Hong Kong by religion | |
| 2016 | 2021 |
| > 1 million | > 1 million |
| > 1 million | > 1 million |
| 500,000 | 500,000 |
| 384,000 | 401,000 |
| 300,000 | 300,000 |
| 100,000 | 100,000 |
| 12,000 | 12,000 |
From 26 January 1841 to 30 June 1997, Hong Kong was formally a Crown Colony and later a British dependent territory, except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II between 1941 and 1945. English was introduced as an official language of Hong Kong during British colonial rule alongside the indigenous Chinese language, notably Cantonese. While it was an overseas territory, Hong Kong participated in a variety of organisations from the Commonwealth Family network. Hong Kong ended its participation with most Commonwealth Family organisations after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997; although it still participates in the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. Moreover, Hong Kong also has indigenous people and ethnic minority from South Asia and Southeast Asia, whose cultures all play integral parts in modern-day Hong Kong culture. As a result, after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong has continued to develop a unique identity under the rubric of One Country Two Systems.Lilley, Rozanna. 1998 (1998) Staging Hong Kong: Gender and Performance in Transition. University of Hawaii. Nonetheless, the historical memories and legacies related to legal frameworks and schooling systems, as well as the privileged status of the English language as a cultural and symbolic capital, complicate Chinese national identity despite the return of sovereignty.
After the handover of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong surveyed Hong Kong residents about how they defined themselves. The number of Hong Kong residents identifying as "Hong Kongers" slowly increased over the decade of the 2010s, reaching a high watermark during and immediately following the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, with over 55 percent of all respondents identifying as "Hong Konger" in a poll conducted in December 2019, with the most notable spike occurring amongst younger residents. Following the passage of the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law and a subsequent wave of emigrants from Hong Kong, that percentage has declined; in its latest poll published in June 2022, 39.1% of respondents identified as Hong Konger, 31.4% as Hong Konger in China, 17.6% as Chinese, 10.9% as Chinese in Hong Kong, and 42.4% as mixed identity.
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