Editing Demographics of Hong Kong (section)

== Language ==
{{main|Languages of Hong Kong}}
As a former British colony, Hong Kong has 2 official languages: [[English language|English]], and [[Chinese language|Chinese]], although the specific variety of Chinese is not specified. The majority of the population uses [[Cantonese]] as their usual spoken language. However, due to Hong Kong's role as an international trade and finance hub, there are also a wide variety of minority groups speaking dozens of languages present in the territory.
<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! rowspan="2" | Language usually spoken at home (5+)
! colspan="2" | 1961<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1961_1970/B10100031967AN67E0100.pdf |title=Hong Kong Statistics 1947–1967 |date=1969 |location=Hong Kong |access-date=2025-03-14}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 1971<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/data/stat_report/product/B1129010/att/B11290101971XXXXE0100.pdf |title=Hong Hong Population and Housing Census 1971 Main Report |date=1972 |publisher=Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department |place=Hong Kong}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 1991<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1991|title=Hong Kong 1991 Population Census – Main tables|url=https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1991_2000/B11200721991XXXXB0100.pdf|journal=Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong|access-date=23 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013112025/https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1991_2000/B11200721991XXXXB0100.pdf|archive-date=13 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 1996<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1996|title=1996 Population By-census – Main Report|url=https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1991_2000/B11200831996XXXXE0100.pdf|journal=Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong|access-date=23 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013094501/https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/hist/1991_2000/B11200831996XXXXE0100.pdf|archive-date=13 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 2001<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=2001|title=2001 Population Census – Main report|url=https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11200272001XXXXB0400.pdf|journal=Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong|access-date=23 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013094434/https://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11200272001XXXXB0400.pdf|archive-date=13 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 2006<ref name=lang_06-16>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bycensus2016.gov.hk/en/bc-mt.html|title=Main Tables {{!}} 2016 Population By-census|website=www.bycensus2016.gov.hk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-11-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008214316/https://www.bycensus2016.gov.hk/en/bc-mt.html|archive-date=8 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
! colspan="2" | 2011<ref name=lang_06-16 />
! colspan="2" | 2016<ref name=lang_06-16 />
! colspan="2" |2021<ref name=":3" />
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
!Number
!%
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
!Number
! %
|-
! align="left" |[[Cantonese]]
| 2,076,210
| 79.0
| 3,469,235
| 88.1
| 4,583,322
| 88.6
| 5,196,240
| 88.7
| 5,726,972
| 89.2
| 6,030,960|| 90.8|| 6,095,213|| 89.5|| 6,264,700|| 88.9
|6,382,947
|88.2
|-
! align="left" |[[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]
|26,021
|1.0
| rowspan="2" |405,147
| rowspan="2" |10.2
|57,577
|1.1
|65,892
|1.1
|55,410
|0.9
| 60,859|| 0.9|| 94,399|| 1.4|| 131,406|| 1.9
|165,541
|2.3
|-
! align="left" |[[Sinitic languages|Other Chinese languages]]
|348,544
|13.3
|364,694
|7.1
|340,222
|5.8
|352,562
|5.5
| 289,027|| 4.4|| 273,745|| 4.0|| 221,247|| 3.1
|204,571
|2.8
|-
! align="left" |[[English language|English]]
| 31,824
| 1.2
| 41,119
| 1.1
| 114,084
| 2.2
| 184,308
| 3.1
| 203,598
| 3.2
| 187,281|| 2.8|| 238,288|| 3.5|| 300,417|| 4.3
|330,782
|4.6
|-
! align="left" |Other languages
| 17,911
| 0.7
| 21,129
| 0.6
| 49,232
| 1.0
| 73,879
| 1.3
| 79,197
| 1.2
| 72,217|| 1.1|| 106,788|| 1.6|| 131,199|| 1.9
|149,376
|2.1
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! align="left" | Total
! colspan="2" |2,628,942
! colspan="2" |3,936,630
! colspan="2" |5,168,909
! colspan="2" |5,860,541
! colspan="2" |6,417,739|| colspan="2" |6,640,344|| colspan="2" |6,808,433|| colspan="2" |7,048,969
! colspan="2" |7,179,127
|}

However, a very large proportion of the population in Hong Kong are able to communicate in multiple languages. The school system is separated into English-medium and Chinese-medium school, both of which teach English and Mandarin.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Proportion of population (5+) able to speak selected languages<ref name=lang_06-16 />
|-
!
!1991<ref name=":2" />
!1996<ref name=":2" />
!2001<ref name=":2" />
!2006<ref name=lang_06-16 />
!2011<ref name=lang_06-16 />
!2016<ref name=lang_06-16 />
!2021<ref name=":3" />
|-
!
! %
! %
! %
! %
! %
! %
! %
|-
! Cantonese
|{{percentage bar|95.8}}
|{{percentage bar|95.2}}
|{{percentage bar|96.1}}
|{{percentage bar|96.5}}
|{{percentage bar|95.8}}
|{{percentage bar|94.6}}
|{{percentage bar|93.7}}
|-
! English
|{{percentage bar|31.6}}
|{{percentage bar|38.1}}
|{{percentage bar|43.0}}
|{{percentage bar|44.7}}
|{{percentage bar|46.1}}
|{{percentage bar|53.2}}
|{{percentage bar|58.7}}
|-
! Mandarin
|{{percentage bar|18.1}}
|{{percentage bar|25.3}}
|{{percentage bar|34.1}}
|{{percentage bar|40.2}}
|{{percentage bar|47.8}}
|{{percentage bar|48.6}}
|{{percentage bar|54.2}}
|-
! Hakka
|{{percentage bar|5.3}}
|{{percentage bar|4.9}}
|{{percentage bar|5.1}}
|{{percentage bar|4.7}}
|{{percentage bar|4.7}}
|{{percentage bar|4.2}}
|{{percentage bar|3.6}}
|-
! Hokkien
|{{percentage bar|3.6}}
|{{percentage bar|3.9}}
|{{percentage bar|3.9}}
|{{percentage bar|3.4}}
|{{percentage bar|3.5}}
|{{percentage bar|3.6}}
|{{percentage bar|3.1}}
|-
! Tagalog
|{{percentage bar|1.1}}
|{{percentage bar|1.8}}
|{{percentage bar|1.9}}
|{{percentage bar|1.4}}
|{{percentage bar|1.7}}
|{{percentage bar|2.7}}
|{{percentage bar|2.8}}
|-
! Chiu Chow
|{{percentage bar|5.4}}
|{{percentage bar|5.0}}
|{{percentage bar|4.8}}
|{{percentage bar|3.9}}
|{{percentage bar|3.8}}
|{{percentage bar|3.4}}
|{{percentage bar|2.8}}
|-
! Bahasa Indonesia
|{{percentage bar|0.7}}
|{{percentage bar|0.9}}
|{{percentage bar|1.3}}
|{{percentage bar|1.7}}
|{{percentage bar|2.4}}
|{{percentage bar|2.7}}
|{{percentage bar|2.5}}
|-
! Japanese
|{{percentage bar|1.0}}
|{{percentage bar|1.2}}
|{{percentage bar|1.4}}
|{{percentage bar|1.2}}
|{{percentage bar|1.5}}
|{{percentage bar|1.8}}
|{{percentage bar|2.1}}
|-
! Shanghainese
|{{percentage bar|1.8}}
|{{percentage bar|1.6}}
|{{percentage bar|1.5}}
|{{percentage bar|1.2}}
|{{percentage bar|1.1}}
|{{percentage bar|1.1}}
|{{percentage bar|0.8}}
|}</div>