Hong Kong’s largest pro-establishment party has urged the government to enact policies to promote childbirth, suggesting a one-off HK$10,000 subsidy for families and tax deductions to hire domestic workers may help encourage couples to have kids.
Addressing reporters on Thursday, five lawmakers from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) proposed around two dozen suggestions to combat the city’s low birth rate. They said the party had passed their recommendations to Chief Executive John Lee ahead of his Policy Address at the end of the month.
According to figures cited by the party, Hong Kong’s birth rate reached a 60-year low in 2020, with 43,000 babies born. In 2021, the figure fell further to 37,000.
Lawmaker Stanley Li said the government should offer families HK$10,000 to encourage them to have children, as well as HK$2,000 in yearly medical care vouchers to subsidise children’s healthcare expenditure.
In addition, Li said the government should provide tax deductions to families hiring domestic workers to reduce their financial burden.
“The tax deduction amount could be based on [domestic workers’] minimum monthly wage. Taking 2022 as an example, the amount that is tax deductible could be HK$55,560,” Li said in Cantonese, referring to last year’s minimum monthly wage of HK$4,630 multiplied by 12 months.
Hong Kong is home to around 340,000 domestic workers who typically take on household and childcare duties. Their contributions free up time for parents, allowing them to enter the workforce and earn more money to support the family.
Breastfeeding, IVF support
Besides financial subsidies, the party also suggested offering greater support to breastfeeding mothers, making work hours flexible, and measures related to egg freezing and in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Lawmaker Nixie Lam, who gave birth to her first child in June, said Hong Kong was backwards globally when it came to supporting breastfeeding.
“Actually the government does advocate breastfeeding, and there are some committees that promote this. But in the community, it’s quite rare to see mothers breastfeed in certain places,” Lam said in Cantonese.
Amid the prevalence of late marriage in Hong Kong, the government could also provide more support for reproductive services, the party said.
As of 2021, the latest year that information was available for, the average age of marriage for men and women was 32.2 and 30.6, respectively.
Legislator Elizabeth Quat said many women tended to put family plans on hold to focus on their career, and by the time they were married and settled down, they could be in their late 30s. At that age, it could be difficult for them to get pregnant, Quat said.
“Fertility improvement technology is expensive and has a long wait time [at public hospitals],” Quat said in Cantonese.
Treatment at private clinics, Quat said, could be upwards of HK$100,000, a prohibitive cost for many families.
She said the government could consider countries like Israel, which she said subsidised IVF until families had two children. Other countries, she added, provided partial subsidies.
Quat also said the government should raise the maximum storage period of eggs to 55 years. Under Hong Kong law, the maximum storage period is 10 years unless the woman is freezing her eggs for a medical reason, such as an illness.
Calls from pro-establishment parties for the government to enact measures to encourage childbirth are not new. The Liberal Party said in August that the government should encourage “middle-class families” to have children by offering education vouchers to parents enrolling their children in international schools.
The New People’s Party said ahead of last year’s Policy Address that the government should give new parents a one-off HK$20,000 subsidy to incentivise them to have children.
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