Is it still possible to grow old gracefully in Hong Kong or Singapore?
P N Balji says in the city state at least, the 'silver tsunami' looks set to reshape political landscape
Singapore and Hong Kong face a demographic nightmare so similar that it makes you wonder who has a better chance to dictate a destiny with fewer upheavals. The problem is a familiar one: citizens living longer and having fewer babies.
Hong Kong is ageing faster, based on today's death and birth rates. It will have a median age of 56.3 years by 2040 if it does nothing to tackle its grey problem. Singapore's figure is 50.3.
What muddies the demographic road map is the economic realities of the two open economies that rely on exports and finance to keep them humming. Second-quarter growth was a miserable 1.8 per cent for Hong Kong and a sputtering 2.4 per cent for Singapore.
With such gloomy figures, the economic challenges are obvious. But it is in the social and political spheres where the worries are emerging.
Singapore is beginning to look like a normal country. The politics have become increasingly contentious, media controls are being challenged by the internet, foreigner-local tensions are growing and being stoked by fringe groups, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.
All these have a bearing on the older citizens' last 20 years. Is it possible to grow old gracefully in a country that prides itself on being youthful and fast-paced?
