Aging Population Essay

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Aging Population – a potential crisis in Hong Kong Recent years has seen a rising aging population. In 2010, a study from Hong Kong University pointed out that if this is being intensified, a great pressure will be exerted into the labor population while every two working people have to support three unemployed people (Hong, 2010). According to the official figures, there were almost 1 million people who were over 65 in 2012 (HKSAR, 2012). In long-term, aging population will induce problems from political, economic and social aspects. To deal with the issue induced by well medical service, late marriage and low fertility rate, the government had better to increase the labour population and encourage marriage in society. Aging problem is deep-rooted and becomes more severe by and by. Generally speaking, people over 65 will be defined as the elderly.When compared with the other Asian countries, the proportion of elderly in Hong Kong is even higher: 14% in 1999, and an estimated 40% in 2050, the highest in Asia (Cheung, 2000). When the aging population of a society reaches 14% of the whole, it will be defined as an Aged society which brings shock to itself. To solve this problem, figuring out the crux is a must.As you know, Hong Kong has long been an advanced city in medical services. People are able to receive brilliant treatment, hence a long life expectancy. Based on the death rates of 1981, the average length of life for men was 72.3 years; in 2001, the death rate was 78.4 years. Similarly, the expectation of life for women was 78.5 and 84.6 years, respectively. For both men and women, there was an increase of some 6 more years of life after birth, indicating an improved health status. Hong Kong is rated as one of the highest life expectancy economies in the world (Yip, 2005). Besides, late marriage and low fertility rate are the reasons of the issue. The
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