Population below five meters above sea level — all countries

Population below five meters above sea level — Hong Kong

Population below five meters above sea level in Hong Kong in 2015 — 7.29%. Ranked 159 in the world out of 215. Since 1990, the indicator has risen by 0.39 pp.

2015 7.29% +0.14 pp vs 2000
World rank 159of 215
Period maximum 7.29%2015
Period minimum 6.9%1990

Trend over time

1990–2015 · % of population

Population below five meters above sea level — Hong Kong, 1990–20156.86.977.17.27.31990199319961999200220052008201120141990: 6.9%2000: 7.15%2015: 7.29%
Change over the period: +0.39 pp Annual average: 0.02 pp

Comparison, 2015

How the value compares with the world and the groups this territory belongs to: Hong Kong

Hong Kong 7.29%
World 4.06%
Eastern Asia computed 5.4%
High-income countries computed 4.19%
Population below five meters above sea level — Hong Kong, by year Hong Kong All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 7.29
2000 7.15
1990 6.9

Eastern Asia, 2015

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

About the indicator

The share of the population living less than five meters above sea level. The threshold is not arbitrary: this is the zone already threatened by storm surges and, over the coming century, by sea level rise. In absolute numbers the densely populated deltas of Asia come first; by share, island states and the Netherlands — and the latter show that a high share does not equal high risk, since everything depends on whether coastal defenses are in place.

Important: The series is not annual: the World Bank computes it from a digital elevation model for individual benchmark years, the latest of which is 2015, and has not updated it since. No one has fresher data of this kind; the values are best read as an order-of-magnitude estimate.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.