XN000022-1987-05-13 — Page 13

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1987

MR CHAMBERS SAID A SMALL WORKING GROUP WAS ESTABLISHED SOME TIME AGO TO EXAMINE THE FINANCIAL NEEDS OF THE ELDERLY AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THEY WERE BEING CATERED FOR BY THE PRESENT SOCIAL SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS.

+THE WORKING GROUP HAS NOT YET COMPLETED ITS STUDY AND HAS NOT REACHED THE STAGE WHERE IT CAN MAKE FIRM RECOMMENDATIONS. BUT SOME TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS HAVE BEGUN TO EMERGE,+ HE SAID.

FIRST OF ALL, THERE WAS NO INDICATION FROM THE STATISTICS THAT THERE WAS A GENERAL BREAKDOWN OF THE EXTENDED FAMILY SYSTEM RESULTING IN A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF ELDERLY PEOPLE LIVING ON THEIR OWN AND HAVING TO DEPEND ON STATE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.

ACCORDING TO THE BY-CENSUS IN 1986, OVER 80 PER CENT OF THE ELDERLY PEOPLE LIVED WITH THEIR FAMILIES, 7.6 PER CENT LIVED WITH THEIR SPOUSES AND ONLY 11.9 PER CENT LIVED ALONE. THE PROPORTION LIVING WITH THEIR FAMILIES WAS CONSIDERABLY HIGHER THAN IN MOST WESTERN COUNTRIES.

+IT CAN BE SAID THEREFORE THAT FAMILIES IN HONG KONG BY AND LARGE ARE STILL LOOKING AFTER AND SUPPORTING THEIR ELDERLY MEMBERS, ALTHOUGH AS SEVERAL MEMBERS HAVE POINTED OUT THIS CAN REPRESENT QUITE A HEAVY BURDEN ON LESS WELL-OFF FAMILIES, MR CHAMBERS NOTED.

NCIAL

+IT IS TRUE THAT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF ELDERLY PEOPLE WHO DO RELY ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE TO MEET THEIR BASIC FINANCIAL NEEDS, AND THIS NUMBER IS LIKELY TO INCREASE,+ HE ADDED.

IN JANUARY 1977, 7.3 PER CENT OF PEOPLE OVER 60 WERE ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (29 935 OUT OF A TOTAL OF 412 200). IN JANUARY 1987 6.2 PER CENT OF THE ELDERLY WERE ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (40 575 ́OUT OF 656 100).

MR CHAMBERS SAID ALTHOUGH THE PERCENTAGE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE HAD DROPPED SLIGHTLY OVER THE TEN-YEAR PERIOD THE TOTAL NUMBER INCREASED SUBSTANTIALLY AND THIS COULD RESULT

IN A STEADILY INCREASING FINANCIAL BURDEN ON THE COMMUNITY IN THE YEARS TO COME.

ANOTHER CONCLUSION FROM THE STUDY WAS THAT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THERE WAS TO BE A COMPULSORY PROVIDENT FUND SYSTEM, CENTRALISED OR OTHERWISE, THERE WOULD STILL BE A NEED FOR A PUBLIC ASSISTANCE SYSTEM, SIMPLY BECAUSE THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE WOULD BE THOSE WHO FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER HAD NOT BEEN IN REGULAR EMPLOYMENT AND WOULD THEREFORE NOT HAVE BUILT UP A PROVIDENT FUND ADEQUATE TO MEET THEIR NEEDS IN THEIR OLD AGE.

/MR CHAMBERS