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Fan Chen

Over half of Hongkongers experience depressive symptoms, the highest proportion in seven years, with dissatisfaction over government policies and the economic downturn being the greatest cause of residents’ unhappiness, a poll has found.
According to a survey of 1,093 adults by HK.WeCare, a platform established under non-profit Wofoo Social Enterprises, over 20 per cent of residents experienced “moderate” depressive symptoms while more than 35 per cent experienced “moderately severe to severe” effects.
In addition, more than 10 per cent of respondents reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless “almost every day”.
The city’s happiness index dropped to 5.63 out of 10 – the lowest level in seven years – with those aged 35 to 44 scoring the worst among all age groups. The earliest comparable poll by the platform was in 2018.
“Depression is a contagious disease,” said lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen, of the centrist political party Third Side.
“I feel that this mood in Hong Kong is now having a very serious radiating effect.”
Simon Lam Ching, a professor and associate dean of the school of nursing at Tung Wah College, compared the city’s happiness index with Finland’s mark of 7.89, weighing the two scores relative to their economies.
“There’s not such a big difference between the economies, in fact our economy is doing better than Finland’s,” Lam said.
“But it seems there is a huge gap between [Finland’s happiness score of] 8 to [Hong Kong’s] 5.”
Hong Kong’s gross domestic product last year was US$382 billion, while Finland’s was US$300 billion.
Yet the survey showed that Hongkongers reported greater dissatisfaction in 11 of 13 external factors cited, as compared with 2023.
Residents were the most unhappy in the three areas of politics and society, government policy and the city’s general economy, and registered declines from 2023.
They were less unhappy compared with last year in the two areas of law and order and harmony between religions.
Despite the gloominess over the city’s economic outlook, Tik urged the public to stay positive while calling on the government to tackle the economy and listen to a different voices to “win the hearts and minds” of Hongkongers.
“If the government can provide a response in the short term on how to solve the HK$100 billion deficit [forecast], it would greatly regain people’s confidence about the government,” Tik said.
Hong Kong’s deficit was expected to more than double to HK$100 billion (US$12.8 billion) in the 2024-25 financial year from the previously forecast HK$48 billion amid a property slump, the finance chief said earlier this month.

Lam said Hongkongers tended to take a “harsher” view about their conditions than people elsewhere, citing Singapore as a comparison.
Pointing to a similar survey of citizens of the Southeast Asian country using the same questionnaire, Lam noted that Singaporeans registered about 8 out of 10 in their satisfaction with law and order, while the score for Hongkongers was 5.26.
He suggested that this meant Hongkongers were more inclined to believe that they would “get robbed or harassed once they are out on the street”, even if “it’s known that Singapore and Hong Kong are both among the safest cities in the world”.
The survey also showed a “significant declining trend” in happiness among older residents aged between 55 and 64, which Lam said was “surprising” as those in that category had been happier than other age groups according to previous editions.
Lam said reasons for their reduced happiness could include emigration of their children, worsening health after the Covid-19 pandemic and the decreasing value of their savings due to inflation.
Those aged between 35 and 44 remained the unhappiest in the city, the survey showed.
Lam said residents in that category bore the greatest burden in terms of work and family responsibilities, including taking care of elders, and were hit hardest by the economic slowdown, with some losing jobs in sectors that might have been entirely devastated during the pandemic.


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Hong Kong

Survey of 1,093 adults shows over a third report ‘moderately severe’ depressive symptoms or worse, with those aged 35 to 44 the most unhappy


Survey of 1,093 adults shows over a third report ‘moderately severe’ depressive symptoms or worse, with those aged 35 to 44 the most unhappy.
