The majority of Hong Kong's population are Han Chinese (95%), mostly of Cantonese ancestry, though there are also sizeable numbers of other Chinese groups such as Chiuchao (Teochews), Shanghainese and Hakkas. A significant number of Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese live here too, and many have families that have lived in Hong Kong for several generations.

The large numbers of Filipinos, Indonesians and Thais, most of whom are employed as domestic helpers also live in Hong Kong. On Sundays, the free day of many foreign domestic workers, they congregate in the thousands in Central and Admiralty and spend the day there together, sitting talking, eating and drinking wherever there is free space. Several whole streets in the Central area are blocked off for foreign domestic helpers on Sundays.

Hong Kong is also home to a significant number of people hailing from Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea and North America, making it a truly international metropolis.

The people of Hong Kong are somewhat reserved, but very friendly, especially to children. A few words of Cantonese learned will ingratiate you further. Greeting with Nihao(你好, "hello" in Mandarin) will not serve the purpose however, as the local language here is Cantonese. A simple "hello" would be good enough, but if you insist, you can say Nei-ho (你好 in Cantonese) to greet local people and they will appreciate you for respecting their local culture which is distinctive from that in China.

What the traveller will notice is the sheer volume of people and their density. Whilst Mong Kok is seen as the indicator of the worst of this, even in the other areas of Kowloon, you will still struggle for personal space. Whilst bumping into people (accidentally of course) is very common, it isn't considered particularly bad manners and you are unlikely to upset the locals, especially if you give a short apology.