The Aging Society - Hong Kong

The aging society –Hong Kong

The development of technology and economy leads to the problem of an aging society. In Hong Kong, according to the report published by the government from 1981 to 2012, the proportion of the elders had increased sharply form 7% to 14% and it is expected to carry on the trend to further increase to 22% in 2022. A lot of young couples do not dare to have a baby after getting married in light of affordability and lacking of leisure time, making the number of birth rate keep declining in recent decades. Aging problem appears to be more prominent and generates a lot of negative impacts on the society.

The demographic shift exposes our society to several potential predicaments. First, tremendous financial burden from the high demand of social insurance and pension services. It is more likely for elderly people to suffer from illness in comparison to their younger counterparts which implies that the aging problem will greatly increase the medical expenditure of the government and the burden of the society. At present, public hospitals spend $4200 on every patient per day. In other words, more than a hundred thousand is spent on every person per month. Elder patients at 65 or above consume more than 50% extra, meaning that medical financial burden on these group of citizens is considerable. In 2011, the authority spent 399 million on the healthcare expenses which has accounted for 16.5% of routine expenditure. Carrie Lam Cheng (2012), Administrative Secretary, stated "In 2041, there will be one elderly among three people, so the medical and social welfare expenditure is estimated to jump up to 40%." Therefore, if the government cannot implement an effective policy to solve this problem, it will increase more pressure on the government and the taxpayers.

Also, productivity is a major factor determining whether a society is prosperous or not. The increase of aged people will have a remarkable negative impact on the economic development in the future. In Hong Kong, the average retirement age is sixty-five years old. On the other hand, fewer young people enter the labor market, declining the number of labor force in Hong Kong. Although some people suggest postponing the retirement age, when times is gone by, there will still not be enough young people to replace positions. Therefore, the problem remains indecipherable. Reduction of the number of working forces will decrease the productivity and further affect the gross domestic product (GDP) of Hong Kong. Thus, Hong Kong may lose the competitive advantage in international trading status.

The aging problem cannot be neglected. The government should implement an effective childbirth encouragement policy as soon as possible. Two solutions are suggested as follows.

The first one is introducing the maximum working hour. Hong Kong beats others countries in competing the longest working hours. . A University