Market Research Companies in Hong Kong

Key figures for researchers

Population

7.52 million (mid-2026, provisional)¹

Usual / mobile residents

7.25 million / 265,500 (mid-2026)¹

Population density

about 6,900 people per km² (mid-2024)²

Median age

47.9 years (mid-2024)²

Population by housing type

29.4% public rental housing, 15.3% subsidised sale flats, 54.6% private housing (2024)⁴

Ability to speak Cantonese

93.7% of people aged 5+ (2021 census)⁵

Foreign domestic helpers

some 375,000 (2025)⁷

Internet users

96.4% of people aged 10+, 87.1% of those aged 65+ (2025)⁸

Mobile subscriptions

365 per 100 people (2024)⁹

GDP per capita

about US$57,000 (2025)¹⁰

Research guide

Research landscape

Hong Kong is a compact, high-income market where consumer, B2B, healthcare and public opinion research are all well developed. Local full-service agencies work alongside specialist qualitative, fieldwork and panel suppliers, and many agencies also manage multi-market studies in the region, with their own teams or local partners.

The global self-regulatory reference is the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market, Opinion and Social Research and Data Analytics (2016 edition): ask your agency which professional code it applies and how it checks that subcontractors follow it.

Languages and fieldwork

Cantonese is the usual spoken language of 88.2% of people aged five and over, and 93.7% can speak it (2021 census); English and Putonghua are widely spoken as second languages. Questionnaires for the general public are usually written in traditional Chinese characters and interviewed in Cantonese, with English versions for expatriates and many B2B targets. Check that translations use Hong Kong wording, not mainland vocabulary or simplified characters.

About 8% of the population is non-Chinese, including Filipinos (2.7%) and Indonesians (1.9%) (2021 census). Hong Kong also has some 375,000 foreign domestic helpers: decide early whether they are part of your target and how they are counted in household quotas. Households are small (2.6 people on average in 2024) and the population is ageing: 20% of people were aged 65 and over in 2021.

Which methods work

Connectivity is very high: 96.4% of people aged 10 and over used the internet in 2025, 96.8% had a smartphone, and there are about 365 mobile subscriptions per 100 people. Online surveys using access panels are the standard method for most consumer targets, and questionnaires must work well on a phone.

Older people are now largely online (87.1% of those aged 65 and over), but panels can still miss the oldest and least educated groups, so telephone (CATI) and face-to-face interviews remain useful. With about 6,900 people per km² and 44.7% of the population in public housing estates, face-to-face fieldwork is fast to organise, but door-to-door interviewing in high-rise blocks with managed entrances needs access arrangements: street and mall intercepts and central location tests are common alternatives. Focus groups are usually held in viewing facilities, mostly in Cantonese.

Timing

Lunar New Year is the main period to avoid: in 2027 the holidays are 6, 8 and 9 February. Other general holidays include Easter (Good Friday 26 March to Easter Monday 29 March 2027), Ching Ming (5 April), Tuen Ng (9 June), the day after Mid-Autumn (16 September 2027), Chung Yeung (8 October 2027) and Christmas. In late 2026, the Chung Yeung holiday is on 19 October and the Christmas holidays on 25 and 26 December.

Tropical cyclones may affect Hong Kong from May to November, most often from July to September. When the Hong Kong Observatory issues the No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal, people are advised to complete precautions and return home as soon as possible: plan to stop face-to-face fieldwork and in-person groups, and keep spare days in the schedule during the typhoon season. The Observatory gives a pre-No. 8 announcement up to two hours ahead.

Data protection

Personal data is governed by the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO, Cap. 486), supervised by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD), and its six data protection principles. Section 62 exempts data used for statistics or research from the use limitation principle, provided the data is not used for any other purpose and the results do not identify respondents. Notifying data breaches is recommended but not mandatory, and section 33, which would restrict transfers outside Hong Kong, is not in force.

The direct marketing rules (Part 6A of the PDPO, applied since 1 April 2013) cover offering or advertising goods, facilities or services, or asking for donations, by mail, email, fax or calls to specific persons. A genuine survey that offers or promotes nothing falls outside this definition, but adding a promotional offer turns the contact into direct marketing, which requires explicit consent (silence is not consent). Breaches can lead to a fine of up to HK$500,000 and three years’ imprisonment, so ask your agency how sample lists were obtained and keep research separate from sales.

Working with a local agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, method, languages (Cantonese, English, Putonghua) and deadline.
• Agree on quotas by age, gender, district and housing type, and on whether foreign domestic helpers and mobile residents are included.
• Ask who translates the questionnaire into traditional Chinese and how the translation is checked.
• Ask about quality control: panel recruitment and data cleaning, back-checks, supervision of CATI calls.
• Check PDPO compliance: how respondents are informed, how sample lists were obtained, data security and retention.
• Agree in advance what happens to fieldwork and groups if a No. 8 signal is issued.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 companies from this page.