More Women In Hong Kong Desire Fewer Or No Children, Survey Finds

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 07 Nov 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The proportion of women in Hong Kong who do not want children or want only one child increased to 26.2% in 2007 -- up 15.4 percentage points from 1992 -- according to a recent survey conducted by ACNielsen of China for the Family Planning Association of Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reports. The survey polled 1,510 women ages 15-49 who were either married or living with a partner. According to the survey, respondents had an average of 1.5 children, compared with 3.3 in 1973. The survey also found that the proportion of women who did not plan to have children at all increased from 5.1% in 1992 to 12.5% in 2007, while the number of women who want two children dropped 9.3 percentage points.

The Post reports that Siu Yat-ming -- head of the Family Planning Association's research subcommittee -- said that one factor contributing to the trend is that many women are marrying at an older age. Siu also said that negative economic conditions resulted in fewer marriages, which affected fertility rates. The poll also showed that certain government subsidies would provide incentives for women to have more children, with 49.3% of childless respondents citing education subsidies, 47.5% preferring health care subsidies and 42.6% wanting allowances for milk powder, the Post reports. In addition, 40.4% of childless women said flexible working hours and more community childcare services would make them want to have children (Lee, South China Morning Post, 11/5).

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