Hong Kong Introduces $2500 Newborn Bonus To Address Falling Birth Rates

Expecting a baby in Hong Kong? Well, you might just be eligible for $2500! In a bid to boost their birth rate, Hong Kong will be paying new parents approximately $2500 for having a new baby. 

However, this amount is barely enough to pay a month's rent in the immensely expensive city, making the amount negligible, according to CNN. 

Hong Kong's New Baby Policy

On October 25, Hong Kong's  Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the move during his yearly policy address, "saying there would be a handout of HK$20,000 ($2,556) to the parents of each baby born from now until 2026 in an effort to lift the city’s “persistently low birth rate” – which has plunged to a record low of 0.9 births per woman, well below the 2.1 needed to ensure a stable population," reports CNN. 

The handout comes along with a bunch of benefits being awarded to new parents in Hong Kong, like "existing tax incentives for new parents, who receive annual tax deductions for each child, with an extra deduction for newborns.". 

Hong Kong's new policy follows other handout policies given out to new parents by Asian states struggling to maintain their population with low birth rates, like Japan and South Korea. 

But What About Rent?

Speaking to CNN, most Hong Kong parents expressed that the amount was not enough to make them want to have more children, if any at all; because of the high cost of living in the city, which is more than most other cities in Asia. 

CNN reports "According to Midland Realty, a real estate agency in Hong Kong, the average monthly rent for a 500-square-foot flat with two bedrooms in the city is about $2,253 this year, which would gobble up more than 90% of the cash the government is going to hand out."

Coupled with the high costs of living and childcare, having more children, if any at all, is simply not sustainable for Hong Kong parents. Speaking to CNN, Ken Lau, a  father of one who wanted a second child (shortly after the measure was announced), stated that the handout could not cover a month of his mortgage, along with gas and electricity. 

“For those who know how to do the maths, they know this is not working,” Lau said.

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