A record number of Hong Kong residents live in poverty, with one-fifth of the population falling below the poverty line despite economic growth, according to new government data.
The number of people living below the poverty line rose to 1.35 million last year, or about 20 percent of the city’s population. It is the highest number of poor since the government began publishing statistics in 2009.
Despite opulent wealth, Hong Kong is a deeply unequal society. It is the world’s most unaffordable housing market and poorer residents live in squalid conditions, with some living in “coffin homes” — rows of wooden boxes crammed into tiny apartments.
The number of poor rose despite the government raising the poverty line last year. For single-person households it is set at HK$4,000 (US$512,08). It is HK$9,000 for a two-person home and HK$15,000 for a family of three.
In the city’s poorest district of Sham Shui Po, which is home to large numbers of recent immigrants and ethnic minorities, the poverty rate rose to nearly a quarter of the population.
Hong Kong officials said the increase in poverty was due to an aging population, and the rate for residents over 65 was about 32 percent.
Social groups criticized the government for its lack of action on poverty alleviation and demanded an increase in welfare payments.
“Economic growth cannot help the lower classes share in the economic achievements,” said a spokesman for the Society for Community Organisation, an NGO that works with the poor. “Reflecting on the grim poverty in Hong Kong, the government’s poverty alleviation measures lack strength, precision and intensity.”
The group called on the government to pass laws combating age discrimination and to increase welfare schemes for the elderly.
The city’s minimum wage is HK$34.50 (US$4.42) per hour and is reviewed every two years.
The large number of poor in Hong Kong rose despite the government posting a HK$110.851 billion surplus in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Hong Kong’s GDP per capita is ranked among the highest of any country or territory and exceeds that of the UK, Germany and Japan, World Bank data showed.
Wealth is most apparent in the city’s chronically unaffordable property market.
A recent analysis found that prices for parking spaces were rising faster than for apartments in some parts of Hong Kong. In a sample of three housing estates, parking bay prices rose by an average of 167 percent in the past six years, while apartment prices increased by 52 percent.
“It is quite common to see parking spaces transacted at more than HK$2 million in recent years, and HK$1 million is becoming the entry point for parking spaces in Hong Kong,” Mizuho Securities Asia analyst Alan Jin said.
“Essentially, what has happened in the parking sub-sector is pretty similar to what has happened and is still happening in the housing market. The shortage of supply is the key reason for the astronomical prices,” Jin said.
However, speculation was another reason for the rise in prices, Jin said.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS