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Opinion | As people live longer, fewer babies can be good for the planet. Hong Kong can show how
- A controlled and fairly managed global population fall is not only desirable but essential to our long-term survival
- Hong Kong, with the world’s longest life expectancy and one of its lowest birth rates, can lead the way in sustainability policies
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As a scientist, I am intrigued and fascinated by the recent spate of articles in the local and global press on ageing populations. They include the impact and proposed solutions and the parallel, perceived problem of falling birth rates, and how the effects of these trends need to be dealt with.
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Genuine concerns raised in the news articles range from aged care costs and the need for more specialised geriatric health infrastructure to the tax base needed to adequately support an ageing population. This is from a shrinking cohort of salary-earners as falling fertility demographics bite ever harder.
One thing we can do is to make better use of the experience, expertise and energy of our healthier-for-longer seniors. Indeed, many wealthy, developed counties are raising the retirement age beyond 65 while some sectors in Hong Kong set this at 60.
As fertility rates fall in Hong Kong and the mainland, the issues that arise include the closing or combining of schools due to lower enrolment and the shutting down of hospital obstetrics units. This has prompted much online discussion about China’s dramatically falling birth rate and what to do about it.
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Last year, this reached a nadir of 9.56 million babies born, and China’s population shrank for the first time in 60 years. For most, this is an unwelcome trend that threatens China’s prosperity and growth. But does it have to be this way?
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