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Following is a question by the Hon Alan Leong Kah-kit and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Professor K C Chan, in the Legislative Council today (July 11):
Question:
Regarding the elderly and child dependency ratios, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(a) the number of adults who need to maintain elderly people aged 65 and above, with a breakdown according to the table below;
Number of elderly people Number of adults
aged 65 and above being who need to
concurrently maintained ¡@maintain elderly people
5 or more
4
3
2
1
0
(b) the monthly income of the adults who need to maintain elderly people aged 65 and above, with a breakdown according to the table below; and
Number of Monthly income of adults
elderly people who need to maintain elderly people
aged 65 and Below $10,000 $25,000 Above
above being $10,000 to to $50,000
concurrently $25,000 $50,000
maintained
5 or more
4
3
2
1
0
(c) the number of adults who need to maintain concurrently elderly people aged 65 and above as well as children aged below 18, with a breakdown according to the table below?
Number of elderly Number of children
people aged 65 and being concurrently maintained
above being 1 2 3 4 or more
concurrently
maintained
5 or more
4
3
2
1
0
Reply:
President,
"Dependency ratios" are statistical indicators which reflect the overall burden of a society. According to common international statistical practice, "dependency ratios" refer to the number of persons aged under 15 and/or those aged 65 and above per 1 000 persons aged between 15 and 64. Based on population census/by-census and other statistical data, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) regularly compiles "dependency ratios". In 2011, the child dependency ratio, elderly dependency ratio and overall dependency ratio of Hong Kong are as follows:
Child dependency ratio 155
(The number of persons aged under 15
per 1 000 persons aged between 15 and 64)
Elderly dependency ratio 177
(The number of persons aged 65 and above
per 1 000 persons aged between 15 and 64)
Overall dependency ratio 333
(The number of persons aged under 15 and
those aged 65 and above per 1 000 persons
aged between 15 and 64)
C&SD does not collect or compile data on the dependent elderly persons and/or children maintained by individual adults. Therefore, we cannot provide the breakdown figures as requested in parts (a), (b) and (c) of the Question raised by Hon Alan Leong Kah-kit.
Ends/Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:11
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