Ageing population has been a serious social issue in Hong Kong for some years. And yet, the situation is getting worse but we still have no effective measures to tackle it. To define ageing population, it means that the distribution of the population is continuously shifting towards old age level (above 65 years old), which is a common phenomenon in developed countries. According to the Hong Kong government, the growth rate of the 65 years old above population will have 50% increases in the future decade. What is the main cause of ageing population? And which group in the society will be adversely affected?
It is believed the main cause of the ageing population is low fertility rate in the past 30 years. The social problems in Hong Kong have an interrelationship with each other. In reality, due to high expense of housing, marriage and childbearing. It is difficult for people to afford and form a family. The financial factor will directly lead to delays in marriage and childbearing. Apart from that, as most of the women in Hong Kong usually need to work to earn a living for themselves, they might find difficulties in striking balance between works and family. And some of them might choose to focus on their own career, especially those with high educational level. This will lead to spinsterhood. On the psychological grounds, the living pressure is one of the factors that affect the fertility rate. Some researches and studies indicate that over stressed people will have chance to be sterile. The above factors indicate that the social atmosphere in Hong Kong do not support family to have babies. As a result, the proportion of the elderly is much more that the young workers who are going to join the society.
But which group in the society will be strongly affected? As a youngster, I strongly believe that our prospect will be affected by the deteriorating ageing problem. Ageing problem will have two major effects on the youngsters. That is about the finance and the welfare.
In the financial aspect, I believe that the youngster will face two problems. The first is the responsibility to feed back their parents. The 2013 – 2014 budgets, addressed by Tsang Chun Wah, stated that about 5 workers below 64 years old need to afford 1 elderly in 2011; but in 2041, about 2 workers need to afford 1 elderly. As people have no or few sibling nowadays, no one can help to shoulder the responsibility to afford the living expense of their parents. (Inflation will also lead to higher living expense.) The outgoings of the youngsters will be increased. On the other hand, if the youngsters in the society cannot afford that, the elderly will have to seek for help from the government. For financial support, such as the social security assistance and the normal old age allowance. The government might have to allocate more resources to serve them fair and better. In order to support those caring policies, it is possible that the tax might be increased to maximize the income of the government. And therefore the one at the working age might have to shoulder the tax. Moreover, if the financial support from the government is not enough, some of the retirees might work again after retired, which might have effects on the job opportunities for the youngsters.
Secondly, the welfare of the youngsters might be influenced. As the government has to put a lot of emphasis on the elderly issues in order to ensure their living condition, more facilities and money will be allocated to support the elders, such as the medical care and housing. Owing to limited budget, it will be hard for government to allocate resources for the youngsters’ issues simultaneously. What if the elders and youngsters need the land (housing) at the same time? The public housing estate might be allocated for the elderly first as they have waited for long years. More conflict will be developed when allocating resources. But if youngsters have no place to live in, a viscous circle of low fertility rate will appear.
It is believed the main cause of the ageing population is low fertility rate in the past 30 years. The social problems in Hong Kong have an interrelationship with each other. In reality, due to high expense of housing, marriage and childbearing. It is difficult for people to afford and form a family. The financial factor will directly lead to delays in marriage and childbearing. Apart from that, as most of the women in Hong Kong usually need to work to earn a living for themselves, they might find difficulties in striking balance between works and family. And some of them might choose to focus on their own career, especially those with high educational level. This will lead to spinsterhood. On the psychological grounds, the living pressure is one of the factors that affect the fertility rate. Some researches and studies indicate that over stressed people will have chance to be sterile. The above factors indicate that the social atmosphere in Hong Kong do not support family to have babies. As a result, the proportion of the elderly is much more that the young workers who are going to join the society.
But which group in the society will be strongly affected? As a youngster, I strongly believe that our prospect will be affected by the deteriorating ageing problem. Ageing problem will have two major effects on the youngsters. That is about the finance and the welfare.
In the financial aspect, I believe that the youngster will face two problems. The first is the responsibility to feed back their parents. The 2013 – 2014 budgets, addressed by Tsang Chun Wah, stated that about 5 workers below 64 years old need to afford 1 elderly in 2011; but in 2041, about 2 workers need to afford 1 elderly. As people have no or few sibling nowadays, no one can help to shoulder the responsibility to afford the living expense of their parents. (Inflation will also lead to higher living expense.) The outgoings of the youngsters will be increased. On the other hand, if the youngsters in the society cannot afford that, the elderly will have to seek for help from the government. For financial support, such as the social security assistance and the normal old age allowance. The government might have to allocate more resources to serve them fair and better. In order to support those caring policies, it is possible that the tax might be increased to maximize the income of the government. And therefore the one at the working age might have to shoulder the tax. Moreover, if the financial support from the government is not enough, some of the retirees might work again after retired, which might have effects on the job opportunities for the youngsters.
Secondly, the welfare of the youngsters might be influenced. As the government has to put a lot of emphasis on the elderly issues in order to ensure their living condition, more facilities and money will be allocated to support the elders, such as the medical care and housing. Owing to limited budget, it will be hard for government to allocate resources for the youngsters’ issues simultaneously. What if the elders and youngsters need the land (housing) at the same time? The public housing estate might be allocated for the elderly first as they have waited for long years. More conflict will be developed when allocating resources. But if youngsters have no place to live in, a viscous circle of low fertility rate will appear.
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