Fix poverty gauge but strengthen Hong Kong safety net
- City may be developing a formula to take in factors in addition to income, the basic marker, however change must not come at the cost of those in need
Poverty amid plenty challenges a society’s conscience. How it is calculated can be a sensitive issue.
Hong Kong’s official poverty rate is income-based. When last updated with data from 2020 it was 23.6 per cent, or 1.65 million people, based on the number living on no more than half the median household income.
With the pandemic emergency behind us, an update of the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report is overdue. Meanwhile, the government is developing a formula for measuring poverty that takes in relevant factors as well as income.
That is good if it deepens knowledge of the extent and nature of poverty and improves the targeting of relief.
As calculated currently, the poverty line ranged from HK$4,400 (US$562) a month for a single-person household, to HK$9,500 for a two-person household, HK$16,000 for three, and so on. After taking into account government intervention with measures such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, one-off cash subsidies and means-tested benefits such as public housing, it was calculated the number living in poverty fell to 554,000, or 7.9 per cent of the population.
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Income must remain a basic marker for measuring poverty. But there is room for debate whether it should be the sole gauge among interrelated factors such as basic living costs.