Number of childless Hong Kong couples doubles in 5 years as average births drop below 1 per family for first time
- Ageing population problem to become more acute as fertility rate drops and life expectancy increases
- Study finds childless couples replace those with one child as city’s average
The number of childless couples in Hong Kong has reached an “alarming” level, the Family Planning Association has warned, with a survey finding that the proportion of respondents without offspring has more than doubled in five years.
The survey released on Tuesday also found the average number of children among the city’s couples dropped to a new low of 0.9, smashing the previous record of 1.2 in 2012.
“In Hong Kong, we have an ageing [population] situation because we do not have enough young people,” said the association’s honorary adviser and research subcommittee chairman Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai.
The city faced emigration challenges, suffered from a low fertility rate and life expectancy was increasing, he noted, adding: “The ageing [population] will just become more and more acute in the years to come.”
Yip, a population expert at the University of Hong Kong, was commenting on the findings of the association’s Family Planning Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in Hong Kong Survey, which polled 1,502 women and their male partners between September to December 2022. Among the women, 1,104 were married and 398 were not.