TNAG-1840-FCO40-2615-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 169

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

CONFIDENTIAL

XI Emigration

機密

ANNEX A

49.

Population mobility has long been a feature of

Hong Kong many of the territory's residents migrated from

China and elsewhere and there is a well established

tradition of going overseas for education, training, career

development and permanent settlement.

50.

In late 1987 and early 1988, there were

indications that emigration was rising and that a

significant proportion of those leaving were skilled and professional people. This was naturally a cause for concern and in May 1988 the Hong Kong Government established a task force to obtain the clearest possible

After careful study picture of current emigration trends.

of the available data, it assessed that between 1981 and

In 1987 1986 emigration averaged about 20,000 per year. the level of emigration was about 30,000 and in 1988 it was

about 45,000. Of these, the task force estimated that

about 11,000 belonged to the

professional,

administrative and managerial class.

It was also estimated

that several thousand former Hong Kong residents return to Hong Kong every year, often after having acquired foreign nationality. The net loss of qualified people is therefore somewhat less than might at first appear.

CONFIDENTIAL

機密

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