How to break the cycle of child poverty in Hong Kong, where one in five children are poor

Chenhong Peng and Paul Yip say ensuring all children have an equal chance of formal education is important but not enough. Increasingly, resources must be focused on helping disadvantaged children develop soft skills such as resilience and confidence

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Published: 5:42pm, 23 May 2017Updated: 7:54pm, 23 May 2017

Child poverty is a serious concern not only because of its immediate impact on a child’s well-being, but also because of what it means for the child’s future. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Children who grow up in low-income households tend to have less access to opportunities and therefore are more likely to remain poor in adulthood. The fact that poverty often crosses generational lines makes the problem much harder to tackle.

According to the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report, there were some 180,000 children (aged below 18) living in poverty in 2015. The child poverty rate was 18 per cent, which meant that nearly every one in five children were living in poverty. Compared with other developed economies, the child poverty rate in Hong Kong is relatively high. It stands at 3.7 per cent in Denmark, 9.8 per cent in Britain, 15.1 per cent in Australia and 21.2 per cent in the US.

Child poverty is a serious concern not only because of its immediate impact on a child’s well-being, but also because of what it means for the child’s future. Hence, providing support to parents so that they can find work will not only give a lift to the children immediately, but it is also very effective in tackling intergenerational poverty.

A mother and child at home in a subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po. Providing support to parents so they can find work will not only give a lift to the children immediately, but it is also very effective in tackling intergenerational poverty. Photo: Edward Wong

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This is because when parents can afford it, they invest in their children through formal schooling, home learning and extracurricular activities. Such investments are later rewarded in the labour market when the child gets a well-paying job.