On Friday, Hong Kong’s wealth gap was reported to be the highest in almost 50 years. Under the Chinese rule for nearly two decades, the high cost of living surpasses the average salaries of Hong Kong residents, resulting in cramped apartments with generations of families under one roof.
Every five years, the census and statistics department produces a report which uses a formula known as the Gini Co-efficient to measure wealth inequality. A Gini figure of zero would indicate perfect equality, while 1.0 would be a society in which one person had all the wealth. According to the report, the Hong Kong figure increased from 0.537 in 2011 to 0.539 in 2016, the highest since 1971.
Although poverty alleviation and economic development is a priority government agenda, lawmaker and social worker Fernando Cheung said the Gini figures showed that the narrowing of the wealth gap and life in Hong Kong has not improved since China’s take over in 1997. Cheung said that income inequality is still a huge problem with major industries controlled by tycoons and that the increasing wealth gap will fuel discontent, especially among the young people with limited opportunities and high costs of living.
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Source: Agence France Presse, 9 June 2017