For the first time, more one-child families in Hong Kong
They comprise 37.5pc of local households, outpacing those with two children, as proportion of childless couples rises, survey shows
Hong Kong's low birth rate has fallen further in the past five years, with the number of one-child families outpacing two-children households for the first time, a survey shows.
Of 1,518 married or cohabitating women aged 15 to 49 surveyed by the Family Planning Association in its latest five-yearly study, 37.5 per cent had one child and 32 per cent had two children.
The average number of children per household reached a record low of 1.12 last year, compared with 1.49 in 2007 and 1.6 in 2002.
The association interviewed the women and 1,059 of their partners between August and December. "The drop can be attributed to the significant rise in the number of people with no children," said Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai, chairman of the association's research sub-committee.
Yip added that the proportion of childless families rose markedly from 16.1 per cent in 2007 to 23.4 per cent last year.
But it was wrong to say Hongkongers dislike children, he said. The survey shows that most respondents would like to have two children, but 39 per cent of women ended up having fewer children than they wanted - the biggest gap between actual and desired outcome since 1987.