Social News
Written by: Liang Delun
2019-12-15 09:18
Last updated: 2019-12-15 09:18The government released the "Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2018" on Friday (13th). The number of poor people was 1.406 million and the poverty rate was as high as 20.4%. The Chief Secretary for Administration, Zhang Jianzong (15th), published a blog saying that the poverty figure is "limited" because changes are not only affected by policy interventions, but may also be affected by economic conditions, overall employment income and changes in demographic structure. Work is a long stream and cannot be stopped. "The government is determined, philosophical and strategic to alleviate poverty.
According to the latest government figures, before the policy intervention, Hong Kong's poor population reached 1.406 million, with a poverty rate of 20.4%. After the policy intervention, the poverty population and the poverty rate were 1.024 million and 14.9% respectively. Zhang Jianzong believed that the poverty reduction policy successfully lifted 380,000 people out of poverty, reducing the poverty rate by 5.5 percentage points, but acknowledged that the overall poverty figure was still "slightly increased."
He mentioned that in addition to the regular cash items, the government provides various non-permanent cash and non-cash benefits to the citizens at the grassroots level (mainly public housing policies), and the non-permanent cash items in 2018 reduced the number of poor people after policy intervention. To 913,000, the poverty rate dropped to 13.3%. After taking into account non-cash benefits, the poverty population fell to 730,000, and the poverty rate fell to 10.6%, reflecting the important role of public housing in poverty alleviation.
Poverty figures are "limited"
He believes that some people may ask why the government has increased its efforts to reduce poverty, but the number of poverty is still on the rise. Zhang Jianzong explained that the changes in poverty figures are not only affected by policy interventions, but also a comprehensive result of the interaction of many influencing factors, including economic conditions, changes in overall employment income, and changes in population structure. Zhang Jianzong said that the growth rate of the elderly population in 2018 was 4.3%, which is higher than the average growth of the past ten years, and the proportion of the elderly in the overall population was as high as 16.9%, which is much higher than the 12.5% in 2009. He pointed out that the structural change of the aging population has put upward pressure on the overall poverty figure.
Zhang Jianzong mentioned that the "poverty line" simply takes household income as an indicator and does not calculate assets. Therefore, some "low-income people with certain assets", such as retired elders, are more easily defined as poverty. He also said that more than 80% of the poor elderly living in non-CSSA households in 2018 (accounting for 89.2% of the total poor elderly) had no financial need.
Zhang Jianzong also pointed out that some one-off relief measures, including medical vouchers for the elderly, measures for the elderly and the "Two Mosquito Ride Scheme", were not included in the poverty line analysis framework, but these projects did provide substantial support for grassroots families Believes that the poverty figures do not fully reflect the actual effectiveness of the government's overall poverty reduction work.
Zhang: Support work is a long stream
He pointed out that poverty alleviation work is a long stream and cannot be stopped. The government is determined, philosophical and strategic to alleviate poverty. The government will continue to review and discuss the progress and effectiveness of various assistance projects to achieve poverty prevention and poverty alleviation.
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