In the past few years, more Hong Kong families have declined to
a state of living in poverty while the income gap between rich and
poor has continued to widen.
This was revealed in the latest figures released by the Hong
Kong Council of Social Service.
Further economic restructuring has taken a toll on less-educated
workers, subjecting them to less income or even unemployment, the
council said.
"The situation has not improved yet and it seems that the
problem would remain serious," said Chinese University's Social
Work professor Joyce Ma.
About 401,000 households, or 18.4 percent of the total, lived in
poverty in 2003, compared with 392,000 households in 2001. This was
revealed by the council based on data provided by the Census and
Statistics Department.
The number of people living below the poverty line hit 1.122
million, or 16.5 percent of total population, in 2003, compared to
1.07 million in 2001.
The poverty line is marked at the 50 percent of the median
household income. It is about HK$6,300 for a two-person household
and HK$8,400 for a three-person one.
The ratio of children, aged below 15, from low-income families
increased to 22 percent in 2003, compared with 20.7 percent in
2001. And those aged between 15 and 29 rose to 11.9 percent
compared with 10.4 percent in 2001.
Poverty has affected children's all-round development, Ma
said.
For instance, many low-income families cannot afford computers
or Internet subscription for their children, she explained.
Alice Yuk, the council's chairwoman on policy research and
advocacy, urged flexible assistance, such as schooling subsidies,
instead of one-off grants, to be provided to low-income
families.
"While those low-income families fight hard to maintain basic
living standards, how can you expect that they will give more money
for their children to join extra-curriculum activities?" She called
on the government to set up a cross-disciplinary committee on
poverty reduction and to suspend the slashing of funds in the
social welfare sector.
(China Daily HK Edition August 13, 2004)