One in five Hong Kong residents is considering leaving the city because of its dire air quality, a survey released Monday has found, raising fears over the financial hub's competitiveness. The findings equate to 1.4 million residents thinking about moving away, including 500,000 who are “seriously considering or already planning to move,” according to the survey by the think tank Civic Exchange. The groups most seriously thinking about fleeing the city include top earners and highly educated workers, raising fears over the southern Chinese city's ability to attract and retain top talent, the report's authors found. “People from all sectors of society know that air pollution is making them sick,” said Michael DeGolyer, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. “Many are concerned to the point they are considering leaving Hong Kong, including local professionals.” DeGolyer added that the survey of more than 1,000 residents debunked the myth that concerns about air pollution were confined to the city's foreign residents, as only three percent of the respondents were expats. The research also found that concern about pollution had risen rapidly since 2001, and that managers and administrators were some of the most worried. “And Singapore wants them,” DeGolyer told reporters, referring to the long-standing rivalry between the two Asian cities to attract top talent. Air pollution across large swathes of Hong Kong last year reached its highest level since records began, official figures released last week showed, although the government insisted improvements had been made.The pollution is mainly caused by huge numbers of factories over the border in southern China, as well as transport and coal-fired power generation in Hong Kong. A Civic Exchange report last year said that at least 10,000 deaths were caused every year in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China by the region's worsening air pollution. Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang has called improving air quality a “matter of life and death” for the city, but has still to introduce new air quality standards; 20 years after the current set were brought in.
