Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu delivered his second Policy Address on Oct 25, reiterating his pledge to safeguard national security, strengthen national identity, stimulate the economy and improve livelihoods, thereby continuing along the path he laid out last year. 

For the purpose of long-term restructuring of the economy, the brightest spot is the revised, four-part plan for implementing the Northern Metropolis, especially the innovation and technology zone, which holds the strongest promise of jumpstarting Hong Kong’s technological development through partnering with Shenzhen.

Surprisingly, among over 100 policy measures put forward, the hottest topic is the announcement of the HK$20,000 ($2,556) “newborn baby bonus” to be awarded to parents whose babies are born on or after Oct 25. 

In addition, a package of measures, including tax deduction for families whose first child is born on or after Oct 25, tax deduction for couples using reproductive technologies, priority treatment for homeownership units selection and public rental housing allocation for families with newborns, were announced. The promulgation of such a fertility package is a stark departure from a statement made by Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han in the Legislative Council in February, when he commented that starting a family is a personal decision in which the government should not interfere.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has good reasons to change its position from noninterference to active encouragement. Hong Kong’s fertility rate has continued to slide, from 1.07 in 2018 to 0.90 in 2022. Only 32,500 babies were born in 2022, down 12 percent from 37,000 in 2021. A shrinking population, coupled with aging, will negatively impact the size and vitality of the local economy, diminish the labor pool, worsen the dependency rate, and compel the government to rely more on immigration to replenish the population. For an economy heavily dependent on local consumption to boost its growth, something must be done to encourage more childbirths.

It is gratifying that Professor Lo Chung-mau, the secretary for health, has agreed to provide tax deductions for expenses on assisted reproductive services and to increase the public service quota for assisted reproductive services from 1,100 treatment cycles per year to 1,800. This will be welcome news to couples struggling to have a baby using reproductive technologies.

Yet Professor Lo’s repeated public calls to women to “have a child when you are young”, and allegations that more women will postpone childbearing decisions if more assisted reproductive support is available, show the professor to be out of touch with present-day social reality.

Official figures from the Census and Statistics Department show that there were 4,030,800 women and 3,382,300 men in Hong Kong in 2021, an imbalance that was also reflected in the 20-44 age group. Also, more women have acquired a college degree or higher education than men.

Men are not only outnumbered by women in educational qualifications, as by-census data also show both men and women in Hong Kong are putting off their decisions to get married. The data show 97.06 percent of men in the 20-24 age group, 86.72 percent in the 25-29 age group, and 57.81 in the 30-34 age group have never married.

As for women, 95.34 percent of women in the 20-24 age group, 79.57 percent in the 25-29 age group, and 45.64 percent in the 30-34 age group have never married. 

Both men and women in Hong Kong are getting married late, in complete disregard of Professor Lo’s medical advice to take up parenthood early.

Hong Kong shares common problems of deferred marriage and low fertility with similar densely populated cities and regions where the pressures of work and the costs of raising children are high. World total fertility rate data in 2022 show Hong Kong to have the lowest total fertility rate, followed by South Korea, with Singapore, Macao, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland not far behind. 

To reverse such trends, countries/regions with similar problems have adopted aggressive measures to help couples bear children with reproductive technologies. To give a few examples, France provides subsidies for reproductive technology assistance expenses incurred by women up to the age of 43; Israel provides full financial support for reproductive technology expenses incurred by women aged 18-45; and Japan includes “infertility treatment” in insurance coverage, covering up to 70 percent of the expenses incurred, for women. 

These governments have good reasons to provide financial assistance for women who employ reproductive technology assistance to have babies. Women who wish to have such assistance are likely to be the better educated ones who get married late and are most keen to have babies when their careers are well-established. They are more likely to produce stable families and raise well-educated children.

It is unlikely that assistance for childbearing with reproductive technology assistance will induce young women to defer childbearing decisions just for fun, as alleged by some medical experts. Infertility treatments are costly. Few women succeed on the first attempt, and the financial, physical and emotional toll on women undergoing such treatment is heavy.

The government’s about-turn on incentivizing childbirths is a good start. But to reverse the trend, and reduce the dependency burden on future generations, the government ought to provide more reproductive technology assistance to couples who want to have children, whether heterosexual or otherwise. They are the people most keen to have babies and most likely to be good parents.  

The author is convener of the Executive Council and a legislator.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.