Greying Hong Kong ‘may worsen poverty rate’ that is already rising among elderly

The ageing of Hong Kong’s population may exacerbate the poverty rate, experts say in the wake of official statistics showing a 3 per cent rise in the number of elderly poor between 2013 and last year.

Welfare-sector lawmaker Peter Cheung Kwok-che said intervention measures such as the Community Care Fund and Old Age Living Allowance had alleviated poverty among Hongkongers, but the results were “slow” in manifesting themselves.

“With a gradual increase in the elderly population, the poverty condition of the elderly may become serious,” Cheung said on RTHK this morning.

He called for a scheme on universal retirement protection to take priority in future discussion.

On Saturday, the government released its latest poverty data during the Commission of Poverty Summit. According to the figures, the number of needy people went down by 1 per cent from 2013 to 962,000 last year, but the number of elderly poor rose 3 per cent from 285,000 to 294,000.

Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu said ageing was a “structural” problem that could not be solved simply through welfare provision.