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Lo Hoi-ying

A Hong Kong lawmaker has come up with a novel idea to help address the city’s falling birth rate: displaying photos of babies in government offices to encourage civil servants to have children.
Bill Tang Ka-piu of the Federation of Trade Unions said on Monday that authorities should create an environment that encourages people to have children, starting with government workers.
He was speaking at a Legislative Council meeting to discuss measures to boost Hong Kong’s births.
“All government offices should put up more photos of babies to cheer up our civil servants,” he said, drawing laughter from committee members. “When they see the photos, they will not want to work overtime and instead go home and spend time with their wife.”
He said that civil servants, with stable jobs and incomes, were the most likely to be able to afford to have children.
“They have no reason not to establish a stable family unit,” he said. “It all boils down to the environment where children are seen as adorable.”


In response, Ho Kai-ming, the undersecretary for labour and welfare, said that Tang’s idea was “innovative”.
“We will go back to discuss with the Civil Service Bureau to see if we can find some baby photos to put up.”
In 2022, Hong Kong rec­­orded the lowest number of births since data became available in 1960, with just 32,500 children born. In 2023, the city produced 33,200 babies, the second-lowest on record.
To tackle falling childbirths, city leader John Lee Ka-chiu announced in his 2023 policy address that the government would be handing out a one-off HK$20,000 (US$2,600) cash incentive to parents of newborn children starting last October.
Ho told the subcommittee the number of newborns in the city had increased by 9.8 per cent year on year after the incentive was introduced.
The number of children born between June and September was 11,807, up by 9.3 per cent from the 10,749 recorded during the same period last year, according to Ho.
Female lawmakers attending the meeting also pointed to other issues as reasons residents do not want children, including restrictions on in vitro fertilisation (IVF), high divorce rates and lack of support for single parents.
Under current regulations, a woman can freeze her eggs until she is 55 or for 10 years, whichever is later, according to the Council on Human Reproductive Technology.
Nixie Lam Lam, who has been pushing for authorities to extend the 10-year storage period to 30 years, said current laws would turn discourage prospective new parents.
“I’ve met many parents interested in IVF who went to Thailand or Taiwan for the procedure instead, as they could not be certain whether they would use it within the 10-year period,” she said.
Lam added that adequate sex education from a young age was also important to help boost fertility rates.
“Some women I met lacked knowledge about their own bodies and reproductive systems until they had to prepare for pregnancy,” she said.
“For example, knowing that extreme period pains are not normal and should not be dismissed with just taking painkillers. Instead, they should see a doctor and take care of their reproductive organs.”

Doreen Kong Yuk-foon said she agreed with Lam’s proposal to extend egg storage beyond 10 years and called on the government to help couples in the process of IVF “realise their dreams”.
“We have 14,000 embryos and 7,000 sperm samples in our IVF storage. That’s a group that is willing to give birth,” she said.
Kong said the government should also tackle issues at the root of the problem, such as an increasing reluctance to get married.
“In Hong Kong, the norm is to have children after marriage, so the government should be encouraging people to marry. Young people have concerns about divorce and fear marriage,” she said.
She also noted that Hong Kong’s high divorce rate could deter couples from getting married.
The number of divorce applications in Hong Kong rose by 25 per cent year on year in 2023 to 20,621, the highest since 2019.
“For every three couples, one will undergo divorce,” she said. “If our divorce rate is so high, and we do not have enough policies to support single parents, then they will choose not to have children in the first place.”


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Hong Kong lawmaker proposes displaying baby photos in government offices to boost childbirths

The number of children born between June and September was 11,807, up by 9.3 per cent from the 10,749 recorded during the same period last year, according to the government. Photo: Elson Li

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Hong Kong authorities have approved 16,000 baby bonus applications for HK$20,000 handouts since last October. Photo: Jelly Tse

The city first recorded a negative natural population growth in 2020, with its total fertility rate dropping to 701 live births per 1,000 women in 2022. Photo: Jelly Tse

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News

Hong Kong

Society

Bill Tang says authorities should create a conducive environment to encourage people to have children, starting with government workers


Bill Tang says authorities should create a conducive environment to encourage people to have children, starting with government workers.


Hong Kong population