Hong Kong births sink to lowest in 56 years, experts predict dire impact on ageing society as kindergartens close
- Only 38,684 babies born last year, continuing a seven-year decline, with no turnaround in sight
- Downward trend will affect enrolments in schools first, before hitting city’s manpower supply
The number of births in Hong Kong hit a record low last year, falling below 40,000 for the first time in more than five decades, with experts warning of wide-reaching implications for the city’s ageing population.
They said the trend would result in shrinking enrolment at every level of education, eventually affecting manpower supply in future.
The early education sector was already feeling the effects, with seven kindergartens closing by the end of the current academic year. A spokesman for the Education Bureau said one of the kindergartens would merge with another school.
Latest data from the Census and Statistics Department showed that only 38,684 babies were born last year, sliding 8 per cent from 2020. That not only marked the seventh consecutive year of decline, but also the lowest point since official figures became available in 1966.
Chow Wai-chun, president of the Early Childhood Educators Association, said there was little chance of the birth rate improving until the Covid-19 pandemic ended.
She said the current situation was worse than in 2003, when the Sars epidemic hit the city. There were 47,687 babies that year, only slightly lower than 48,119 in 2002.
Compounding the situation was the ongoing wave of emigration sparked by Beijing’s imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 and its tightening grip on the city’s political affairs.