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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Poverty in old age
— evidence from Hong Kong | | Author(s) | Lih-Shing Chan, Kee-Lee Chou |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 38, no 1, January 2018 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, January 2018 |
| Pages | pp 37-55 |
| Source | http://www.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Poor elderly ; Income [older people] ; Poverty ; Wealth ; Quantitative studies ; Hong Kong. |
| Annotation | The Hong Kong population will age rapidly over the next three decades. The problem of old-age poverty will test the Hong Kong government, which has been using a solely income-based measurement. This study aims to assess poverty rates among Hong Kong's older population in terms of both income and consumption-based measurements, by using both relative and absolute concepts of poverty. It also examines the association of socio-economic and household characteristics with poverty rates among older people. A two-stage stratified sample design was adopted, in which a total of 4,306 older adults were personally interviewed in their homes (response rate 66.2 per cent). This study contributes to the larger study on poverty in Hong Kong, by revealing how income and consumption poverty rates may differ among older adults. Older adults who were both income and consumption poor were more likely to be female, widowed, living alone and to have received less than an elementary school-level education. They possessed very few assets and were most likely financially dependent on family support and welfare payments. To fully understand older people's economic well-being in Hong Kong, this study proposes that joint distribution of income and consumption poverty can better identify and explain the demographic characteristics of poor older people. Implications of the study are discussed based on the neo-liberalist approach that the Hong Kong government has taken in welfare provisions. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180105003 A |
| Classmark | F:W6: JF: W6: W7: 3DQ: 7DR |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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