For the past 10 years, the birth rate in Hong Kong has fallen rapidly from more than 3 children per woman to 1 or even 0 per woman, which is the lowest in the world. Concerning the problem of low birth rate, the Hong Kong government takes much effort in studying the possible solutions to raise the birth rate. However, before making those policies, the reasons why Hong Kong people are becoming more unwilling to have children should be investigated first. There are some criteria which make the Hong Kong people hesitating on giving birth.
First of all, the women now in Hong Kong are much more independent as they are able to sustain their lives with their working. They prefer work instead of children. Second, the long working hours make both men and women are exhausted after work and they are not willing to spend time on taking care of their children when they back home. Third, the economy uncertainties discourage them to give birth due to no confident on their career prospects especially when there is economic recession.
They fear about the low living standard and the incapability to raise children in the future, so they choose to save more and wait until they got enough confident on their financial situation to have children. In order to ensure enough supply of labour in the market for the next 10 to 20 years, there are some recommendations to the Hong Kong government. They can be divided into two areas: (1) Local Side – Increase the Birth Rate and (2) Mainland Side – Importation of mothers and labour. To increase the public awareness of the Family Council in Hong Kong.
The objective of Family Council is to promote family values. Through advertisement and education, the public can learn to appreciate the formation of a family and what is good about having offspring. Instead of Economic incentives, family councils can contribute to changing the public mindset. To implement the Paternity leave as a compulsory practice in every organizations in Hong Kong. Paternity Leave is the legal holiday allowed the fathers of children from work when his wife or partner is having a baby. This can help them to reduce their pressure on raising a child.
Also, the maternity leave can be extended as well. To provide better child care services, such as establish more pre-school and nursery school, in order to mitigate the time cost of parents. As Hong Kong people need to work for long hours, some even work around the clock. This necessitates the government to give more support to this kind of services. To provide incentives for families to have a baby by reducing the expenditures of family activities. The benefit is provided in terms of cheaper tickets of parks, museum and cultural centers.
This is considered to be more effective than just offering discount to children as it is not only benefit the children but also benefit the parents. To increase the student subsidies on transportation and tuition fee. Traditionally, government supported school children on transportation financially. In fact, government can increase the upper limit and the amount discounted for the concessionary tickets of public transport. Also, government can increase the amount of grant and lower the interest rate of the loan for university students.