XN000022-1972-09-07 — Page 4

Thursday, September 7, 1972

HONG KONG'S DECLINING BIRTH RATE SHOULD BE MAINTAINED

Recent trends in marriage and fertility in Hong Kong indicate that

the fertility rates among women in specific age groups will continue to

decline for some years giving rise to a further lowering in the birth rate.

However, this decrease is expected to be somewhat slower than the

rapid change experienced in the sixties.

A special review article in the latest edition of the Hong Kong

Monthly Digest of Statistics, published by the Census and Statistics

Department, says that Hong Kong's annual birth rate has dropped from

35 to 36 births per one-thousand of the population in 1961 to 19.7 in 1971.

This represents a fall of 43 per cent over a 10-year period.

The reason for the decline in the birth-rate is attributed to a

combination of four factors:

a decrease in the number of women of child-bearing age;

a decrease in the proportion of women who marry in the

productive child-bearing years;

the postponement of child-bearing;

a fall in the fertility rate of married women

The article says that women in the older fertility age-groups

in Hong Kong still prefer to have a large number of children. But once

these women have passed the reproductive age in a few years and are replaced

by younger women who now generally accept the practice of family

planning, the fertility rate will drop substantially.

/The