A number of people have called for a higher birth rate in Hong Kong. With all due respect, this is possibly the last thing Hong Kong needs. Instead of intoning the phrase 'replacement level', policy makers ought to examine the term's relevance.
Even a first-time visitor can see that Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Such density exacerbates almost every problem we face. In 1947 the population was 1.7 million. Owing to politics, survival economics and the Chinese predilection for big families, the population peaked last year at 6.9 million. Circumstance, not policy, dictated the city's numbers and at some point in the previous 60 years the population was certainly more ideal than it is now. Perhaps 35 years ago, when there was still a bit of quiet open space, sensible traffic and some genuine alternative to shopping mall culture in Hong Kong, 'replacement level' ought to have entered planners' lexicon. To make 6.9 million the arbitrary replacement level simply because it is the current number is ill-conceived.
One cannot attribute the low birth rate solely to employers' influence on the government, but rather to the government itself. Hong Kong couples' decision not to have children springs directly from government practices that have exploited the city's hyper-density, namely its incestuous relationship with big business. It is not average working people who will suffer from a shrinking census, it's property developers and duoply interests.
If the government is serious about creating a 'quality' population rather than just increasing it, why not start with citizens already here? Upgrade the education available to poor children and adopt tough legislation to safeguard Hong Kong's degraded environment (which would hearten parents and prospective parents). The call for more babies highlights with sad irony the lot of Hong Kong's elderly, many of whom live in squalor. Surely the monetary reserves, if not the will, exist for improving these conditions.
Perhaps cleverer ways will be devised of packing and stacking more people, but at some point quality of life disappears. The dropping birth rate is the natural realisation that we've reached this point.
Kara Young, Mid-Levels