Cash-for-babies population push

The New People's Party has proposed a HK$20,000 subsidy be given to parents to give birth and HK$50,000 for people to freeze their eggs or sperm in an attempt to boost the SAR's birth rate amid an aging population.

At a meeting with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu yesterday, the New People's Party made a number of recommendations on health care, proposing patients be diverted to private hospitals, increased cooperation with non-governmental residential service providers, and strengthening the positioning of Chinese medicine as a professional industry to reduce the burden on the health system.

A proposal on education suggested that 700 courses offered by Hong Kong's post-secondary education system have too much overlapping content, affecting the employment opportunities of graduates.

Authorities should reexamine the system and reallocate funds to avoid wasting resources, the party said.

Regarding quarantine-free travel, party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said she was unsure as to whether authorities would be able to implement a "0+7" system of seven days medical surveillance by November, in contrast with the existing "3+4" regime of three days in hotel quarantine and four of medical surveillance.

"I fully understand the business sector's demands for an end to hotel quarantines for arrivals, but in terms of opening up, the government needs to appraise the epidemic situation and conduct data reviews, so it's hard to say whether we can roll out a 0+7 system in November," she said.

Ip also proposed new population policies to encourage childbirth, including setting up a HK$20,000 "Newborn Cash Subsidy", and providing a HK$50,000 subsidy for those who want to freeze their eggs and sperms, and to extend the retirement age to 65 across the board.

Census figures suggest that about one in five people in Hong Kong is aged 65 or above.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security - a government-affiliated body in Tokyo - found in a 2021 survey published this month that a record 17.3 percent of men and 14.6 percent of women aged between 18 and 34 had no intention of ever getting married.

Those figures have gone up by 15 percent for men and over 10 percent for women since the first survey in 1982.

The think tank said the results of the study would add to concerns about the low birth rate in Japan.

Asked what would be an "ideal" lifestyle for women, almost 40 percent single male respondents and 34 percent of single female respondents cited the ability to balance a career with child-rearing.

According to a Hang Seng Bank survey, it costs at least HK$6 million to raise a child for 22 years in Hong Kong - 55 percent more than the HK$4 million estimate 16 years ago.

A total of 633 people aged between 30 and 64 who participated in the online survey said it costs HK$284,000 a year to raise a child, meaning it would cost more than HK$6 million, with inflation taken into account, to nurture a child until they are 22.

At a separate meeting yesterday with the chief executive, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions called for "reverse quarantine" to be allowed while it works toward quarantine-free travel.

FTU chairman Kingsley Wong Kwok also called for improved pay and benefits for workers, better training, occupational safety assurance and locals to be given priority for employment. "There are jobs but people aren't taking them, and in other cases there are people looking for work but there aren't any jobs," he said of the current job market.