One in five people in the city now lives in poverty, a recent report reveals.
HONG KONG – When a Hong Kong woman found herself unexpectedly pregnant and facing unemployment with little savings in late 2023, she did not fully anticipate how hard life was about to get.
She recently returned to her previous part-time role, which she declined to disclose. “But the work is seasonal and uncertain. It’s not sustainable for me as a single mum with a baby.” The poorest 10 per cent of households earned a median HK$1,600 monthly, dropping 54 per cent from 2019. The richest 10 per cent of households earned HK$131,100, 10 per cent more than 2019.
“The government adopts the strategy of targeted poverty alleviation by directing resources to those most in need.”As poverty rises with the recent years of economic instability, Professor Paul Yip of the University of Hong Kong’s warned that it is no longer confined to the traditionally “poor” districts.
Ms Sze Lai Shan, deputy director of the NGO Society for Community Organisation, said more Hong Kongers were becoming poorer for various reasons. Over in Wan Chai, a security guard in his 60s who wanted to be known only as Mr Chan, said he was thankful for his job after being intermittently out of work throughout the pandemic.
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