Hong Kong has been the world's longest-lived region for 7 consecutive years. However, is it a blessing to live long in Hong Kong?
According to statistics, there are about 391,000 people in Hong Kong who are classified as "poor elderly", and 279,000 people are over 70 years old.
There have been criticisms from grass-roots and elderly groups that with insufficient government support, the elderly have difficulty in getting old in Hong Kong. There are elderly people over 70 years of age who still have to work two jobs for 13 hours a day even after they have passed the retirement age for many years. Some people are waiting. Elderly places "wait until death." If old friends are to have a better quality of life in their old age, the government must allocate more resources to upgrade elderly care facilities.
Further reading: Hong Kong people have been ranked as the world's longest-lived region for 7 consecutive years
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Social Association: There are all kinds of elderly policies, but everything has to be waited
According to statistics from the Census and Statistics Department, in 2019, the total population of Hong Kong was about 7.51 million, with 1.32 million elderly people aged 65 and above, and about 217,000 people over 85 years old.
Wu Weidong, secretary of the Hong Kong Association of Community Organizations, believes that in the face of problems such as an aging population and a poverty rate of more than 30% of the elderly, the government's elderly policies are not strong enough.
He said that many elderly people have to receive CSSA after they have exhausted their savings. The three major expenses faced by grassroots elders include rent, food, and medical expenses. There have been cases in which even if they are nearly 70 years old, they still work twice a day. Worked as an outsourced cleaner for 8 hours during the day, and then went to the restaurant to clean for 5 hours at night, working a total of 13 hours a day, just to meet daily expenses.
He criticized that on the one hand the government refused to implement comprehensive retirement protection, on the other hand, the cancellation of the MPF hedging progress was slow, urging the government to step up its implementation.
Wu Weidong, secretary of the Hong Kong Association of Community Organizations, believes that the government’s elderly policy is insufficient. (Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Waiting for an average of 21 months for subsidized places on the waiting list is worthy of the name "wait till death"
On the other hand, many elderly people need to be admitted to homes due to lack of care or physical reasons. However, the lack of places in Hong Kong is the problem of elderly services in Hong Kong.
As of the end of December last year, 31,000 elders were waiting for subsidized care and attention places, with an average waiting time of 21 months; about 6,000 people were waiting for admission to nursing homes, with an average waiting time of 26 months, totaling 7,024 Passing away during the waiting period is worthy of the name "wait till death."
There are too many subsidized places for monks, and many elderly people can only switch to private institutions.
According to data from the Census and Statistics Department’s “Profile of People Living in Private Homes for the Elderly in 2020”, as of July last year, there were about 38,000 people living in private homes in Hong Kong. The overall median age was 84, 80 or 80. The above accounted for 64.2% of the total, and there were 11,000 elderly people over 85 years old.
Hong Kong faces the problem of an aging population, and the elderly have a greater need for residential care homes.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Zhang Haowei)
The twin-elder family has repeated births and tragedies, the poor and the elderly are under pressure
However, the quality of services in private homes varies from good to bad. Wu specifically mentioned that there have been tragedies in Hong Kong in the past. Resist and fear the nursing service. Once I enter the institution, I feel like losing my freedom. Even though I am sick, "I am not sent to the nursing home by the people in the same room. The implication is that they would rather die." The Government should allocate more resources for residential care homes and community care to improve the quality of residential care homes and speed up the waiting time.
With the aging of the population, the number of elderly people is rapidly increasing. According to the "Hong Kong Population Projection 2020-2069", the elderly population will nearly double in the next 20 years, and by 2039, one out of every three Hong Kong residents will be an elderly person, over 65 The age will increase to 2.52 million, and the number of silver-haired people over 85 will increase to 480,000.
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