TY - JOUR
T1 - Trends in Elderly Poverty in Hong Kong
T2 - A Decomposition Analysis
AU - Lee, Siu Yau
AU - Chou, Kee Lee
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by the Research Grant Council Strategic Public Policy Research Scheme (HKIEd 7001-SPPR-11) and the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (38600214).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Despite significant improvements in education and a decline in the percentage of immigrants in elderly population, the poverty risk in old age and the actual number of impoverished elders in Hong Kong have both increased significantly over the past two decades. This study assesses the changing rates of elderly poverty in Hong Kong over the last 20 years and, by means of decomposition analysis, identifies the factors shaping their evolution. The analysis is based on the 5 % microdata samples from the 1991, 2001, and 2011 censuses covering Hong Kong residents aged 65 and above. The results show that the rate of poverty among older adults increased from 27.7 % in 1991 to 38.7 % in 2001, and then to 41.4 % in 2011. The increase was largely caused by a significant decline in the number of earners in the households with older adults, which offset the poverty-reducing effects of education and the percentage decrease of immigrants.
AB - Despite significant improvements in education and a decline in the percentage of immigrants in elderly population, the poverty risk in old age and the actual number of impoverished elders in Hong Kong have both increased significantly over the past two decades. This study assesses the changing rates of elderly poverty in Hong Kong over the last 20 years and, by means of decomposition analysis, identifies the factors shaping their evolution. The analysis is based on the 5 % microdata samples from the 1991, 2001, and 2011 censuses covering Hong Kong residents aged 65 and above. The results show that the rate of poverty among older adults increased from 27.7 % in 1991 to 38.7 % in 2001, and then to 41.4 % in 2011. The increase was largely caused by a significant decline in the number of earners in the households with older adults, which offset the poverty-reducing effects of education and the percentage decrease of immigrants.
KW - Decomposition analysis
KW - Elderly poverty
KW - Hong Kong
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84944711535&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11205-015-1120-5
DO - 10.1007/s11205-015-1120-5
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84944711535
SN - 0303-8300
VL - 129
SP - 551
EP - 564
JO - Social Indicators Research
JF - Social Indicators Research
IS - 2
ER -
