Hong Kong’s poverty line has taken a new twist. There is no longer an assessment of those living below the poverty line, but rather a targeted poverty alleviation strategy.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Chris Sun Yuk-Han explained that the poverty line was a very statistical concept that was purely based on income but failed to capture the full scope of need within the community.
In the past, the poverty line was based on 50 per cent of median household income. Currently, that is HK$30,000 for a four-person household or about $10,300 for a single-person household.
Hong Kong’s poverty rate affects more than 1.4 million residents, with significant variations across districts and age groups. Elderly citizens face the highest poverty risk at nearly 45 per cent, while districts like Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong show concentrated disadvantages.
Government intervention, such as Old Age Living Allowance, reduces the poverty rate from 23.6 per cent to 14.9 per cent after policy measures, highlighting both the scale of need and the impact of social programs on vulnerable populations.
Regionally, Singapore reports a poverty rate around 10 per cent using comparable methodology, Japan’s relative poverty rate reaches 15.7 per cent, and South Korea shows 16.7 per cent. Taiwan registers about 11 per cent.
After dropping the use of the poverty line, the government adopted a new 21-indicator framework on a 227-page Targeted Poverty Alleviation Strategy Report, which identifies the most vulnerable groups and for the first time assess the “social transfer value covering income, employment, assets, reliance on cash welfare, housing, education or training access, and physical health or social connectivity, to identify the city’s neediest groups.
The combined size of three groups identified by the report totalled 1.13 million people across 667,000 households, with the data measured over different years and some individuals belonging to more than one group.
The recognition of health carers in the report is particularly significant, as they often provide essential support without formal compensation. Their inclusion in the expanded assessment framework indicates a growing awareness of their crucial role in society and the potential need for targeted assistance to alleviate their burdens.
Chief Secretary for Administration, Eric Chan Kwok-ki, as chairman of the Commission on Poverty (CoP) has been quoted as saying that by adopting several innovative elements in the report, the CoP seeks to present how the Government's allocation of resources improves the living standards of beneficiary households, so that the public could better perceive the direct relevance between the policies and their own interests. For example, he said, this is the first time that the internationally recognized concept of "social transfer values" was adopted to quantify the social resources transferred to households that benefit from regular housing, health, education, and welfare measures. Such an analysis would reflect in a more comprehensive manner the Government's efforts and effectiveness in alleviating poverty.
A “Pilot Programme on Community Living Room” provides additional living spaces and support services for “sub divided unit” (SDU) households.
The CoP identified three target groups SDU households, single-parent households and elders-only households.
The strategy also encompasses a number of programmes for targeted groups. A “Strive and Rise Programme” focuses on supporting secondary students from underprivileged families particularly those residing in sub divided units (SDUs) to lift them out of intergenerational poverty. The “Teen for a Brighter Future” programme, for example, provides for a school-based after school care service scheme enabling primary students, especially from single parent households to stay at school after school hours to receive supervised care and academic support in familiar and safe environment. This alleviates parenting pressures and facilitates parents to seek employment. For example, a child whose education from kindergarten to university would be subsidized to $2.5 million. It is the first time the government has adopted the international concept of “social transfer values” and measures how much income a family gained by not having to pay full price for public services.
Another reason why the CoP dropped the poverty line indicator was that Hong Kong was now entering a “very ageing society” in which most elderly people no longer earned an income.
Recognizing elders-only households often lack support and attention, CoP says it supports Government’s engagement of Care Teams to visit elderly singletons, doubletons, and three-person-and-above elderly households and refer cases in need to social welfare service units.
However, the success of this new strategy depends on three main elements: accurate implementation—making sure resources reach the intended groups; ongoing monitoring—developing an alternative, comprehensive assessment mechanism to track overall poverty trends; and sustained commitment—maintaining long-term collaboration among government, businesses, and citizens. If implemented effectively, this strategy could create a more holistic and compassionate poverty alleviation system for Hong Kong, shifting from "distributing money to the poor" to "empowering people to escape poverty", thereby maximising the social benefits of limited resources.
Mark Pinkstone
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
Next month, on September 3, the world will celebrate Skyscraper Day when Hong Kong is expected to be crowned, again, as the city having the most skyscrapers. According to the Chicago-based Council on Vertical Urbanization, Hong Kong has 596 skyscrapers over 150 meters in height.
The city has been forced to build vertically due to its small land area and dense population and its skyline is among the most renowned in the world thanks to its robust financial sector, international trade connections, and creative urban planning.
Following up is Shenzhen with 444 skyscrapers and New York third with 317. The tallest building in the world is the Buri Khalifa in Dubai reach 828 meters and has 163 floors for hotels, residence, offices, observation decks and communication systems.
The council adds that Skyscraper Day is the ideal time to examine which cities have the most skyscrapers and how they represent advancements in economy and design.
Also, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has weighed in noting that when it comes to soaring skylines and architectural marvels, no country has embraced the vertical revolution quite like China. Hong Kong, along with Shenzhen, and Guangzhou (5th position) are part of a burgeoning megacity known as the Greater Bay Area, which is home to over 1,500 skyscrapers. This is even more impressive when considering that Shenzhen, which now boasts a population of 17 million people, was just a small fishing village until the 1970s.
Looking at this data from another perspective, China actually has more skyscrapers than the rest of the world combined. China has 12 cities, 2777 skyscrapers and 72 supertalls (300-599 meters tall) in the top 20, compared to the rest of the world with 13 cities, 2350 skyscrapers and 67 supertalls.
China’s prominence in the world of skyscrapers—with three cities in the top five globally—is likely to remain unchallenged, especially with the expected dominance of high risers in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis development, slated for completion in 2036.
In Hong Kong, the tallest building is the 484-meter-tall International Commerce Center which has 108 floors for the Ritz Carlton hotel, offices and retail outlets. It is also the 14th tallest building in the world.
This is followed by Two International Finance Center reaching 415 meters and home to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority which is housed from the 77th to 88th floors of the building. And third on the list is Central Plaza in Wanchai which is 374 meters tall with 78 floors of office space. On the 75th floor is a church – iSEE Church, formerly known as the Sky City Church – which is the tallest church in the world.
But tall buildings bring their own problems, especially with urban planning. In this regard, Hong Kong has long addressed the problem of the "Wall Effect" high risers present and instead has transformed its vast skyline into a global leader in sustainable construction.
The Hong Kong Planning Department has introduced strict Urban Design Guidelines and Sustainable Building Standards to break up the long rows of uniform high-rises. Developers are required to leave wide gaps, known as "breezeways," between tall buildings so that these air corridors enable natural sea breezes to flow through, cooling the streets and dispersing vehicle exhaust.
Also, the collaborative effort between the government and the construction industry has established Hong Kong as an internationally recognized hub for green high-rises. New buildings, for example, are required to allocate between 20 and 30 per cent of their site to green spaces, leading to high-rise developments featuring lush sky gardens, green roofs, and vertical planting walls that help absorb heat.
A classic example of this is The Henderson in Hong Kong’s busy central business district, which ranks it among Asia’s greenest skyscrapers, having achieved a top-tier Platinum certification for its smart, zero-carbon cooling systems and resilient layouts.
The certification process was conferred by the LEED global rankings of sustainable and environmental friendly buildings which placed Hong Kong sixth worldwide (and fourth in Asia) for meeting its strict criteria.
The verticalization of Hong Kong is necessary because of severe shortage of land. About 43 per cent of the total land area falls within the protected areas such as country parks, marine parks, wetland, sites of special scientific interest, and water gathering grounds. These areas are either statutorily protected or highly restricted from development. Development can only go up. But this has also bought a premium on land supply and price.
All land in Hong Kong is owned by the government, except where St John’s Cathedral stands, which was granted a freehold in perpetuity to the Church of England in 1847. The government leases and grants land for ownership for long periods of time, generally about 50 years or more. Land is released for development in a timely manner depending on demand generally through auctions. So for the current quarter, only one piece of land for residential use will be offered for sale in Kowloon to provide for some 250 high-rise flats.
The measured land release comes as Hong Kong’s residential market shows signs of recovery after years of downturn and when the government has lowered its land premium revenue target for the 2026-27 financial year to about HK$18 billion (US$2.3 billion).
For the current quarter, supply would also include more than 3,000 units from the first Northern Metropolis large-scale land disposal project in Hung Shui Kiu. The government aims to award the tender during the next week or so.
The Hung Shui Kiu pilot site marked the first land sale under the government’s new large-scale land disposal model for the Northern Metropolis.
Again, all of the once fertile agricultural and fish pond land in the Northern Metropolis will be transformed into a sea of high rise futuristic buildings to keep Hong Kong at the top of the skyscraper ratings for many years to come.
