China, Hong Kong SAR population (live estimate)

Hong Kong has a highly multilingual environment shaped by its Chinese heritage and British colonial history. Chinese and English are both official languages, with Cantonese as the dominant spoken variety of Chinese in daily life. English is widely used in government, business, law, finance, and higher education. In recent decades, the use of Mandarin (Putonghua) has expanded due to closer integration with mainland China, especially in education and cross-border commerce. Many residents are functionally bilingual or trilingual, shifting between Cantonese, English, and Mandarin depending on context.

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world, with the majority of residents concentrated in high-rise districts on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and parts of the New Territories. The population is predominantly ethnic Chinese, alongside minority communities including Filipinos, Indonesians, South Asians, and expatriates from Europe and North America. Ageing demographics, high housing costs, and patterns of migration influence household structures and language use, with younger generations often having stronger formal education in English and Mandarin while maintaining Cantonese as a home and community language.

The cities shown here represent major urban centres with populations over 50,000, as defined by the UN Degree of Urbanisation (DEGURBA) methodology. Smaller towns and rural settlements are not included.