Housing is the biggest worry for HongKong's poorest children, survey finds

The children of Hong Kong ended 2014 and began the new year worrying about housing - a matter which should not be their concern - according to a survey of their views.

Twenty young ambassadors for the Children's Rights Association revealed the top concerns of underprivileged children on the last day of last year, in the hope of pushing the government to act on the pressing needs of young people this year.

More than 1,000 children were consulted, and approximately 100 of them voted on their top 10 concerns.

Housing issues topped the list, followed by the lack of free kindergarten education and financial support for schoolbooks and activities. The government was give a mark of 20 out of 100 - four down from last year.

Ambassador Fung Pui-yee said: "We've given the government an even lower grade because they made promises but did not deliver."

The 13-year-old said that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying had "promised more public housing but the queue is still very long; he promised 15 years of free education in 2012 but there is still no timetable nor any planning to make it happen".

Fellow ambassador, 11-year-old Yeung Ka-on, said that there were 30,000 children living in poverty, many of them in families plagued by already-inflated rents that continued to increase.