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.
China’s military yesterday showed off its machine-gun equipped robot battle “dogs” at the start of its biggest ever drills with Cambodian forces. More than 2,000 troops, including 760 Chinese military personnel, are taking part in the drills at a remote training center in central Kampong Chhnang Province and at sea off Preah Sihanouk Province. The 15-day exercise, dubbed Golden Dragon, also involves 14 warships — three from China — two helicopters and 69 armored vehicles and tanks, and includes live-fire, anti-terrorism and humanitarian rescue drills. The hardware on show included the so-called “robodogs” — remote-controlled four-legged robots with automatic rifles mounted on their
A Philippine boat convoy bearing supplies for Filipino fishers yesterday said that it was headed back to port, ditching plans to sail to a reef off the Southeast Asian country after one of their boats was “constantly shadowed” by a Chinese vessel. The Atin Ito (“This Is Ours”) coalition convoy on Wednesday set sail to distribute fuel and food to fishers and assert Philippine rights in the disputed South China Sea. “They will now proceed to the Subic fish port to mark the end of their successful mission,” the group said in a statement. A Philippine Coast Guard vessel escorting the convoy was
STREET WATCH: Residents watched over barricades blocking roads and flew white flags to show that they intended to keep an eye on their neighborhoods France yesterday deployed troops to New Caledonia’s ports and international airport, banned TikTok and imposed a state of emergency after three nights of clashes that have left four dead and hundreds wounded. Pro-independence, largely indigenous protests against a French plan to impose new voting rules on its Pacific archipelago have spiraled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s, with a police officer among several killed by gunfire. On roads, the torched detritus amassed over four days of unrest was scattered amid fist-size hunks of rock and cement that appeared to have been flung during riots. Armored vehicles roved the city’s palm-lined boulevards, usually
SHAKE-UP: Lam, who would be the third president in less than two years, emerged as one of the country’s most important officials after leading an anti-corruption effort Vietnam has nominated the enforcer of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption drive as the next president and proposed a new head of the National Assembly, in appointments that could ease months of political turmoil and allow policymakers to refocus on a struggling economy. Unprecedentedly for a one-party nation once known for its stable politics, two state presidents and a National Assembly speaker have stepped down in less than 18 months, all for unspecified “wrongdoing” amid a major anti-graft campaign which is unnerving foreign investors because of its chilling effect on bureaucracy. After approval from the National Assembly, which could come this week, Vietnamese