[1] As of 2012[update], figures from the Netherlands' Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek showed that 9,757 Hong Kong-born persons (4,808 men, 4,949 women), and 8,440 persons with at least one parent born in Hong Kong (4,300 men, 4,140 women).

The number of persons of Hong Kong background has shown only mild growth, entirely due to natural increase rather than additional migration; in fact the stock of Hong Kong migrants fell by 5.6% during the same period.

[2] According to F. N. Pieke, Hong Kong was a significant source of ethnic Chinese migrants to the Netherlands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with about 600 to 800 per year, falling off to around 300 to 400 per year by the late 1980s.

[3] While most Hongkongers are Cantonese by descent, there are Hongkongers who are of Teochew, Hakka, Shanghainese, Hokkien or South Asian descent, and people from overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.

Owing to Hong Kong's previous status as a British crown colony, the British nationality of the inhabitants and the existence of people with non-Chinese ancestry, Hongkongers overseas may or may not identify with the Chinese diaspora in the same country.