Hong Kong’s population is expected to reach 8.469 million by 2041, with 52100 births and 82,400 deaths predicted by The Census and Statistics Department. It expects over 30% of the population to be above 65 by 2041.
Hong Kong Population Growth
It also possesses one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at 1.11 children per woman, with 1,032 babies born to every 1,000 fertile women in 2009. As of the year 2017, this rate is now estimated to be 1.19 children born per woman. The mean age of women birthing their first child in Hong Kong is approximately 29.8 years of age. Total life expectancy in Hong Kong is now at 83 years of age, with a median age of 44.4 years across the population.
Over the past three decades, the fertility rate has greatly decreased. In fact, in 2001, it was 927 children per 1,000 women, which was a great drop from the replacement level of 2,100 children per 1000 women. This decline has been attributed to women pursuing higher studies, late marriages, higher proportion of people who never marry and an increasing participation by women in the labor force.
The government has been taking steps toward encouraging people to have bigger families. To this effect, there have been calls for increasing the government’s system of providing free education to children up to the age of 9, to the age of 15, in order to reduce the financial burden on the parents. In addition, calls for subsidizing medical and nursery services are being made to encourage more parents to have children in order to boost the population.
Hong Kong currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. It is estimated that by 2033, 26.8% of the population will be above 65 years, which is an increase of 12.1% from 2005. With greater emphasis laid on earning more money and pursuing higher education, along with the increasing cost of child care and housing, more and more people are opting to not have a child, which has resulted in the rate of population growth steadily decreasing over the years.
Hong Kong Population Projections
Due to the low birthrate, the population increase will not be significant over the years. Therefore, to boost the population, the government is taking various steps, one of which is to convince people from the Mainland to migrate to Hong Kong. For these immigrants to be productive and contribute to society, the government is starting programs based on helping them settle and adjust to life in Hong Kong. Current projections believe that the annual growth rate will creep very close to 0% annual change by the year 2050 and that the population will increase to 8,253,141 during this same time period.