Explain This: what does it mean to be poor in Hong Kong, and how many people live in poverty?

After study reveals more than 70,000 families in the city spend less than HK$15 per person on each meal, Explain This looks at the numbers on poverty, who exactly the poor are, and what can be done about the problem

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An elderly woman collecting scrap cardboard boxes to resell goes about her work outside the Louis Vuitton store in Central. Photo: EPA

Published: 12:01pm, 12 Oct 2017Updated: 12:10pm, 12 Oct 2017

One of the starkest demonstrations of inequality in Hong Kong can be seen on city pavements where luxury shops and elderly women collecting scrap cardboard coexist. Many tend to ignore the fact that beyond the glitzy skyline, Asia’s self-proclaimed “world city” is plagued with depressing poverty and a worsening wealth gap, with the richest families earning up to 29 times more than the poorest. Recent data reveals that more than 70,000 families survive on less than HK$15 a meal per person.

How many people are classed as poor in Hong Kong?

The latest official figures showed 1.34 million people were living below the poverty line in 2015, out of a total population of 7.34 million. That figure was 20,000 more than the year before and the highest since 2009. The poverty rate stood at 19.7 per cent of the population, a study released by the government in October last year found.

How many Hongkongers are really living in poverty?

In 2015 authorities set the poverty line for one-person households at HK$3,800 per month, and HK$8,800 for two-person homes.

An elderly woman collects scrap cardboard boxes in North Point. Photo: Dickson Lee

A study released this month by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service showed that more than 40 per cent of low-income households in Hong Kong – about 71,000 people – spent less than HK$15 on average on each meal.

According to social workers, low-income households are often forced to cut their expenditure on food to cope with rising rents. A “coffin home”, for instance, so called for their minuscule size, might cost almost HK$2,000 a month.