My Take | Open mainland borders to reverse population decline
- Hong Kong faces no danger of depopulation in the decades ahead because of a huge pool of young, well-trained and educated talent from the north
Experts have long warned of the rapid ageing of Hong Kong people, which along with declining birth rates, will lead to natural depopulation. It seems the process has already started much earlier than anticipated.
Last year, for the first time, according to the latest Census and Statistics Department figures, there were 43,100 births and 49,800 deaths, resulting in a natural population decrease of 6,700.
Some people have blamed the low birth rates on social unrest, government failure and the national security law. But Hong Kong’s population decline is hardly unique; Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are all experiencing the same trends.
Japan has been well ahead when it has been, for years, selling more adult than baby diapers.
The gap between births and deaths, which has reversed for the first time, is expected to grow wider in coming years. The drop in the number of births last year corresponded to a 36.7 per cent decline in the number of marriages – 28,161 in 2020 from 44,522 the year before.