Hong Kong

Hong Kong: strong, sustained growth, 1980–2024

A British colony until its 1997 handover to China, Hong Kong evolved from a manufacturing hub into a free-port financial and trading center that channels much of the capital flowing into and out of mainland China, though growth has slowed through the 2019 protests, the pandemic, and closer political integration with Beijing. Between 1980 and 2024, Hong Kong's GDP per capita grew from $5,700 to $54,075 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% — strong, sustained growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 4.1% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 4.1 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 0.1% to 0.0% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 83.8% to 91.8% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 74.7 to 85.4 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 32.2% to 120.1%, while the urban population share grew from 91.5% to 100.0%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 3.07 to 4.60 tonnes CO2e per person.