ENG-2003 — Page 515

CHAPTER 20

Population and Immigration

It has often been said that Hong Kong's greatest asset is its people. Their hard work, resilience and entrepreneurial spirit have transformed Hong Kong into one of the world's greatest economic success stories. But sustaining this success for future generations will be a major challenge as a low birth rate, an ageing population and longer life expectancies cause critical changes in demographic characteristics.

THE urgent need for Hong Kong to develop a comprehensive population policy was highlighted by the Chief Executive in his second-term Inaugural Speech on July 1, 2002. This population policy, he said, would be designed to fit Hong Kong's long- term social and economic development, complement family requirements and address the interests of different sectors of the community.

A Task Force on Population Policy, chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, was subsequently established to oversee the development of the proposed population policy. Its immediate task was to identify the major challenges to Hong Kong arising from its demographic trends and characteristics, setting the objectives of a population policy and recommending a set of policy initiatives that the Administration could explore in the short and medium term. The Task Force published its Report on February 26, 2003.

The Task Force stated that the key objective of a population policy must be to secure and nurture a population that would sustain Hong Kong's development as a knowledge-based economy and a world-class city.

In this context, Hong Kong should also aim to redress population ageing, foster the concept of active and healthy ageing, promote social integration of new arrivals, and ensure the long-term sustainability of economic growth. The attainment of these goals would lead to a steady improvement in the overall standard of living.

The Task Force advocated moving away from the proposition of achieving a simple optimum population both in terms of size and of composition. Rather, it would be more useful to ensure that sufficient flexibility was built into future policy formulation and implementation processes for Hong Kong to respond quickly to changing demographic conditions and market situations.

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