Number of Expats in Asian Cities

I was wondering if anyone has any information on the number of Western Expats in various Asian cities. I have tried looking online and can not find any decent data.


What I am trying to do is find a list of the number of Western Expats (including spouses and kids) for the following cities:


1) Shanghai

2) Beijing

3) Bangkok

4) Hong Kong

5) Singapore

6) Manila

7) Jakarta

8) KL

9) Seoul

10) Tokyo


Hong Kong's data is great but I am having trouble finding data for elsewhere. To start with I'd be happy with just the actual number of Western expats but ideally I'd like to know the trend (i.e. Hong Kong has been trending down substantially since the handover).


As of the 2006 Population By-Census Thematic Report: Ethinic Minorities there were 36,384 White people living in the city. Of which 23,582 where male and 12,804 were female. Of Males of working age 86.1% were in the workforce and had a median income of HK$600,000 per year. Of women 54.4% of working age women were in the workforce and have a median income of 348,000 per year). There are only 6,002 white kids under 15).


For comparision in the 2001 Census there were 46,584 white people living in Hong Kong and I know in 1996 that the figure was in the 100,000's.

We've been asked this question many times and I don't think you are ever going to get an accurate number of expats in any city even if you approach the government because they are coming and going constantly.


And at the end of the day who is and who isnt an expat?


In Hong Kong you have tens of thousands of 'foreigners' like myself who do not show up in govt records as having a work visa because we have been here long enough not to need one.


And you have perhaps hundreds of thousands of HK people who emigrated as kids to places like Canada and now have come back to HK to work. They also do not show up in the numbers because they have HKID - but they are without a doubt expats...

"There are many white people in Hong Kong who are not expats, they were born in Hong Kong."


erm how many would you define as being many. Not disputing the point you are trying make, that if you have white skin in Hong Kong, you are not necessarily an expat, but I think I would dispute the fact that there are many that are born here,


Even as a percentage of the total Caucasian population or counting kids of expats. I think it would have been more true 20 years ago, but quite honestly, even when I was growing up and it was a British colony, I didn't know that many kids that were actually born in Hong Kong, and certainly, of the 130 plus kids in my year group, less than 10 have made their home in Hong Kong.


I would say it is a fair generalisation.


Its not completely accurate admittedly. But generalisations by their very nature never are.