Covid strategy, retirement age show Hong Kong’s treatment of the ‘elderly’ needs a rethink
- With one of the world’s lowest birth rates and high life expectancy, why is the retirement age in Hong Kong not also among the highest in the world?
- Meanwhile, the longer the lockdown of our lives continues, the more we will feel and look our age
I was born in a water tiger year, which comes around every five cycles and is once more upon us. That is another way of saying I am now in my sixth decade and, by the reckoning of some people, considered elderly.
I do not consider myself “elderly”. For me, the word conjures up images of people using walking frames and wheelchairs, just as my mother did in her late 80s.
There seems to be a consensus, in the West at least, that 60 is the new 40. I would vouch for that with how I feel and what I have been told about my physical shape.
But age is just a state of mind. What we think of as old changes over time and will continue to do so as life expectancy increases.
A few governments have different standard retirement ages for men and women, although some are gradually lifting minimums and bringing the two into line.
Shortages of talent and skilled workers mean contracts and flexible working conditions are increasingly common in Hong Kong after an employee has reached a stipulated retirement age. Given that the city has one of the world’s lowest birth rates and a population listed at or near the top of global life expectancy – 88 for women and 83 for men – that is to be expected.
What is the secret to Hong Kong’s high life expectancy?
Truth be told, few of us actually feel our age. There is no definition for what constitutes “elderly”. There is an unscientific rule of thumb; take your age, add 15 or 20 years and that is how “old” is perceived by many of us. But how a government treats its citizens sets the tone and in Hong Kong, where the median age is just under 45 and fast increasing, there is a need for a rethink.
As I enter my fifth tiger cycle feeling energetic, full of enthusiasm and in good health, and anticipating a few more to come, I can only hope for a change of government attitude.
Peter Kammerer is a senior writer at the Post