How money fears made 2009 a year to forget
Last year was one of the most difficult times to find a job or to earn enough to buy a home in Hong Kong, and most people considered themselves worse off than at any time since 2002, a Chinese University survey found.
There were indications in the university's latest annual quality of life index that people suffered less stress, enjoyed a cleaner environment and were more satisfied with the government's performance. But economic hardship and fears about the spread of human swine flu meant 2009 was one of the worst years for most people living in the city.
The index reflects the public's perceptions of quality of life. It fell to 102.19 last year, down 2.64 points from 104.83 in 2008. This is the lowest since 2002, the base year, when the index was set at 100. The index is made up of 21 indicators covering a number of social, economic and environmental factors.
A sub-index is compiled for each of the three areas. The social sub-index fell to its lowest level of 46.21, while the economic and environmental sub-indexes improved.
Five of the 21 indicators worsened last year, with one of the most noticeable drops being the housing affordability ratio, which fell to 1.18 compared with 1.72 in 2008 and a peak of 4.95 in 2003.
Property prices plunged early last year amid the credit crunch and volatile financial markets but quickly rebounded even though wages had not fully recovered from the downturn. This left many people complaining about the lack of housing affordability and demanding that the government take action to help ensure that the average homebuyer could still find suitable housing.
The government responded recently with some measures to enhance the transparency and accuracy of information in property transactions but steered clear of directly intervening in the property market.
The other indicator that worsened significantly was for notifiable infectious diseases, which plunged to a record low of just 0.74 from 6.48 in 2008. Ng Sai-leung, director of the university's Centre for Quality of Life, attributed the drop to the higher rate of reported infectious diseases and the swine flu outbreak last year.
Indicators measuring the frequency of criticisms of the government and businesses by the media, real wages and unemployment also dipped slightly. But the index showed people had a better opinion of the government last year, were satisfied with their lives and experienced improvements in the environment.
