頭痛醫頭亂象生 人口政策待補救

港府公布人口政策諮詢文件，將會提出連串紓緩人口老化建議，包括鼓勵生育以提升長期偏低的出生率，協助內地雙非兒童來港接受教育，以及吸引海外人才移民香港。然而，說時容易做時難，如果缺乏相關配套措施，這些建議只會淪為紙上談兵，重蹈上屆政府人口政策一事無成的覆轍。

毫無疑問，鼓勵生育是解決人口老化問題的不二法門，香港生育率位居全球最低之列，與社會經濟環境有莫大關係。港人普遍遲婚，夫婦考慮生兒育女，首要顧慮經濟條件和居住問題，不少女性待到生活穩定，已過了適宜生育年齡，因此只能求助於輔助生育服務。當局計劃加強公院人工受孕服務，固然是應有之義，但如果社會和經濟條件沒有改變，居住環境擠迫及託兒服務等問題無法解決，要提高出生率又談何容易。

事實上，香港人口老化問題迫在眉睫，港府推算本地勞動人口在二○一八年之後持續下降，老年撫養比率將會持續上升，導致生產力下降，競爭力削弱。所以，港府制訂人口政策，除了要解決人口老化問題，更重要的是提升人口質素，增加整體競爭力。

Stopgap measures cannot solve Hong Kong's population problems

The Hong Kong Government has just published a consultation document on population policy. A number of recommendations for alleviating the problem of aging population were put forward. These include boosting the birth rate which has been low for a long time, assisting Mainland children who were born in Hong Kong but whose parents are not Hong Kong residents to come receive education here, and attracting overseas talents to migrate to the city. Such plans look good on paper, but they may not work in practice. If relevant ancillary measures are lacking, these recommendations will only be reduced to an armchair strategy, repeating the former Government's mistake of failing to formulate a proper population policy.

When it comes to solving the problem of aging population, encouraging people to have babies is undoubtedly the only proper course to take. Hong Kong's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, and this has everything to do with our social and economic environment. Hong Kong people tend to marry late. When a couple considers having babies, the first concern would be their financial and housing conditions. After waiting for a number of years until they are eventually financially stable, the wife may have already passed her fertile age and has to seek help from reproductive service. Although the Government plans to discharge its duty by enhancing artificial insemination service in public hospitals, it will not be easy to raise the birth rate if the social and economic situations, such as congested living space and shortage of childcare service, are not improved.

In fact, Hong Kong's problem of aging population is imminent. The Government estimates that the working population will start dropping after 2018, and the elderly dependency ratio will continue to rise. As a result, the city's productivity will fall and its competitiveness compromised. Therefore, the formulation of a population policy does not only serve to solve the aging population problem; more importantly, it should also help to raise the quality of the population in order to perk up our overall competitive edge.

重要生字

armchair strategy 紙上談兵

the only proper course to take 不二法門

artificial insemination 人工受孕

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