Two in three Hongkongers think city a bad place to raise children, survey reveals ... and Singaporeans and Shanghainese are happier
Civic Exchange survey compared attitudes of respondents in the three cities and found that a larger number in Hong Kong, especially the young, thought life had worsened
Hongkongers are significantly more unhappy about life than their peers in Singapore and Shanghai, with an alarming two thirds thinking the city is not a good place to bring up children and 40 per cent open to leaving it, according to a new well-being survey on city residents.
Independent public policy think tank Civic Exchange randomly polled 1,500 people in Hong Kong – and the same number in Singapore and Shanghai – between September last year and January with the aim of finding out how quality of life was perceived in three similar cities.
Hong Kong lurked at the bottom of almost all gauges of life satisfaction with seven out of 10 believing the city had become “worse” or “much worse” than when they first started living in it.
Just 11 per cent of people in Shanghai and 9 per cent in Singapore felt this way about their cities and most were middle-aged.
Hongkongers get marginally less dismal as they age but still, two thirds of seniors feel the city is worse to live in compared to 43 per cent in Shanghai. An impressive 81 per cent of Singaporean seniors feel life has improved.