Feature Articles

Extracted from the Hong Kong SAR Government’s press statement issued on 25 June 2013: The Steering Committee on Population Policy (SCPP) held its fourth meeting this afternoon (June 25)

Ref Number: ESEAOR201306

  • Date1 Jun 2013
  • Category FPA Message
  • Targets Public
  • AuthorN/A
  • Topic Population

Members were presented with the findings of the survey on "Family Planning Knowledge, Attitude and Practice in Hong Kong 2012" released by the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong. The findings revealed that the proportion of women desiring a child or another child rose significantly from 12.7 per cent in 2007 to 20.2 per cent in 2012, the highest since 1992. The findings also showed that 39 per cent of female respondents would like to have more children. The main reasons given by those who did not wish to have any children and those who desired only one child were the heavy responsibility and financial burden of raising children.

Having studied the survey findings, members opined that childbirth cannot be encouraged solely by one-off financial incentives. The Government should work on various fronts to create a social environment which is conducive to setting up a family and raising children. This might include fostering a family-friendly working environment and culture, enhancement of and subsidies for education and child care services, and making available housing which is affordable and can meet family needs. However, any policy involving the Government giving out cash allowances or requiring employers to provide increased employee benefits would involve substantial public money and increased operating costs for enterprises and should, therefore, be handled with great care. Noting that the Central Policy Unit is conducting studies in this field, the SCPP agreed to seek the public's views on this aspect in the upcoming population policy public engagement exercise later in the year.

Professor Paul Yip, Council member of FPAHK, and Dr Susan Fan, Executive Director of FPAHK, are both members of the Steering Committee on Population Policy.