Hong Kong's Aging Problem

ELC291 – English for University studies
Ng Ka Lok, Kyle (11228174D)

Aging Problem in Hong Kong

Introduction
Nowadays, it is common to see elderly everywhere in our society. Not only from the own observation, but the result from the population census and other documents also give reliable information of aging population in Hong Kong. Obviously, problem of aging population should not be neglected as it is not simply a phenomenon of people getting older, it causes other social problems and the Government is asked for extra measures to fix it with no doubt.

Reference List

Aging: a real problem that must be addressed
By HONG LIANG http://www.cdeclips.com/en/hongkong/Aging_a_real_problem_that_must_be_addressed/fullstory_53390.html Council for Sustainable Development
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region http://www.susdev.gov.hk/html/b5/sd/index.htm Census and Statistics Department
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistics_by_subject/index_tc.jsp?subjectID=1&charsetID=1&displayMode=T Introduction

Data / Trends
The population growth trend is now slowing down. 1. Low population growth rate * Projected to increase at an average rate of 0.7% to 8.38 million in 2033. 2. Fertility
Projected gender imbalance * 979 Males : 1000 Females (2005) > 749 Males : 1000 Felmales ( 2033)
Declining fertility
3 (1970s) > 0.966 (2005) 3. Long life expectancy and Ageing population
Expectation of life at birth (2033) * Male 82.5, Female 88
Aging of the population of the elderly (65+) * 12.1% (2005) > 26.8% (2033) 4. Dependency * More dependency (elderly) to independents than before

Problems 1. Envisage a shrinking labour force and aging population 2. Escalating property prices 3. Widening wealth gap

Solutions 1. To understand the factors which are affecting people’s childbearing decision. * Cost of education * 15 years free education * Cost of housing * Providing affordable housing for the lower classes 2. Sustainable public health care * To build more hospital and provide affordable health care for elderly 3. To due with the Unemployment of old aged person * Implementing an anti-age discrimination ordinance * Government should promote and encourage institutions to set up aggressive employment policy for old aged workers by some motivation, such as tax rebate * Promoting life- long training and retraining system

Conclusion