Paternity leave proposed as way to boost birth rate
Paternity leave for civil servants and discounted tickets for family activities are among recommendations proposed by an advisory body on ways to boost the fertility rate.
A panel of the Council for Sustainable Development has spent six months looking at ways to overcome Hong Kong's ageing population.
Convenor Wong Siu-lun said the report, to be submitted to the government before June, would focus on four areas: the declining fertility rate, manpower, ageing population and quality of life.
Group sources said the government would be asked to take the leading role by offering paternity leave to civil servants in a bid to create a more family-friendly working environment.
After receiving the report, the government will draw up a population policy by the end of the year.
Some panel members want the government set up a family council to promote family values and encourages family harmony.
But few measures are recommended to change the immigration policy because the public has not reached consensus on this, the sources say.
A member of the group, Paul Yip Siu-fai, director of the Centre of Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong, said the social environment had to be shaped to allow change.
He said the report would urged the government to adopt a holistic approach that provided a family-friendly working environment and financial incentives and encouraged immigrants.
'It is not easy to raise a child. The government should increase the tax allowance for people having children,' Dr Yip said, describing the HK$100,000 allowance for newborns proposed in the budget as just a 'small gesture'.
He said parents could be encouraged through specially priced tickets to participate in family activities at museums, music events and sports activities.
In recent months a few companies have announced they will provide paternity leave, with Standard Chartered Bank allowing five days and CLP Power three days.
The Census and Statistics Department has projected that by 2033 there will be 428 people aged 65 or over for every 1,000 in the workforce, up from 164 in 2005.
Professor Wong said schemes that attracted talented immigrants, in particular children, were important in maintaining population growth.
Damage to social cohesion could be avoided if the children grew up in Hong Kong.
'But this will require more political will from the government,' he said, describing the years from 1998 to 2018 as providing a golden opportunity for Hong Kong to reducing the ratio of dependants to productive people.
