Hong Kong ranks second to none in depth of connectedness - report

Hong Kong records significant flows from mainland China, and shows improvements across all major measuring areas, according to the third iteration of the Global Connectedness Index (GCI) issued by the logistics company DHL.

Hong Kong is ranked 11th globally in terms of overall connectedness and second only to Singapore in the East Asia and Pacific region, just ahead of Korea. On the contrast, Hong Kong ranks 74th in terms of breadth, which measures a regions global geographic distribution. The ranking is way behind its Asian counterparts including Korea and Japan, which are ranked 6th and 7th respectively.

The GCI gives a detailed analysis of the state of globalisation around the world, studying international flows of trade, capital, people and information. The GCI analyses globalization in 3D, meaning that it looks at the depth of countries cross-border interactions, their directionality (outward flows versus inward flows) as well as their geographic distribution (breadth).

Cross-border flows between Hong Kong and mainland China are ranked among the worlds top 3 largest flows in terms of merchandise trade and tourist flows, following that of China to the US and Canada to the US. Goods exported from Hong Kong are worth 196% of the citys GDP while exported services are worth 49%, with 72% of merchandise exports bound for destinations within East Asia and the Pacific region.

Hong Kong’s outward and inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stocks top the charts worldwide, as do Hong Kongs outward FDI flows, which equaled 141% of its Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) from 2011 thru 2014. The index also shows that 45% of Hong Kongs inward FDI stocks came from within East Asia and the Pacific region.

The DHL Global Connectedness Index draws on more than 1 million data points from international flows covering trade, capital, information and people from 2006 onwards. The Index aims to provide comprehensive and timely account of the worlds global connectedness, backed up by regional and country-level analysis covering 140 countries that encompass 99% of the worlds GDP and 95% of its population.