Hong Kong ranked first on The Economist’s 1 July 2021 “normalcy index”, which analysed three types of activities to determine how similar lifestyles in a particular region are to their pre-pandemic counterparts. The report stated that Hong Kong enjoyed “nearly full normalcy”.
The three activity types (travel, leisure and commercial) are split into eight variables: retail performance, office use, public transport usage, road traffic congestion, flights, cinema revenue, sporting event attendance and time not at home.
The Economist collected data from 50 regions that accounted for 90% of the world’s GDP and 76% of its population. Hong Kong scored 96, followed by New Zealand, which scored 88. By comparison, China, Hong Kong’s largest trading partner, scored 73, ranking 19th.
The report stated that the global average had risen to 66, indicating a gradual return to normalcy worldwide.
Click here for the full report from The Economist.