Hong Kong (7.6 million inhabitants): a Special Administrative Region of China on the South China Sea — one of the world’s leading financial centres, a major port, and a city of striking harbour-and-skyscraper geography.
Last updated: October 2026
| Country | China |
|---|---|
| Population | 7.6 million |
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China.
Source: UN World Urbanization Prospects, 2022 Revision (metropolitan agglomeration estimate). Observation date: 2022. The Bureau cross-checked major-city figures against UN WUP; smaller-city figures are presented as published and have not been individually re-verified.
Hong Kong has a metropolitan population of 7.6 million, according to the UN World Urbanization Prospects (2022 Revision) cited on this page.
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, on the southern coast of China at the mouth of the Pearl River, facing the South China Sea.
Hong Kong is known as one of the world’s leading financial centres, for its Victoria Harbour skyline, its port, its Cantonese food culture and cinema, and for the 1997 handover from Britain to China.
Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking, which ended the First Opium War; Kowloon and the New Territories followed later in the 19th century. Under British rule the city grew from a fishing outpost into one of Asia’s great trading ports and, after the Second World War, into a manufacturing and then financial centre.
In 1997 Britain handed Hong Kong back to China under the “one country, two systems” framework, under which the city kept its own legal system, currency and border controls as a Special Administrative Region. The Basic Law serves as its constitutional document.
Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading financial centres, with one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia, a freely convertible currency pegged to the US dollar, and a deep-water container port that long ranked among the busiest in the world. Trade, logistics, finance, professional services and tourism are the pillars of its economy.
The city’s economy is closely integrated with mainland China, above all with neighbouring Guangdong province and the Greater Bay Area, while its common-law legal system and low, simple tax regime have long attracted international business.
