The Post looks at how attractive the incentives are and whether they will bring more bundles of joy to the rapidly ageing population.

1. What did babies born before Wednesday miss?

From Wednesday, each baby born in Hong Kong will be eligible for a HK$20,000 cash incentive, if at least one of the parents is a permanent resident, regardless of marital status.

The policy will remain in place for three years, after which it will be reviewed.

Parents, including mainland Chinese one-way permit holders, can register for the baby bonus when applying for birth certificates for their children at the Immigration Department. The deadline is six months after the child is born.

The government is planning to obtain legislative approval in late 2023 or early next year, with the incentive set to be disbursed in the first quarter of 2024. Those eligible are expected to get their hands on the bonus in two to three weeks.

Government sources said authorities planned to set aside HK$800 million in annual funding. That would support as many as 40,000 newborns each year.

2. What else can parents of newborn babies get?

Families with a baby born on or after Wednesday, and under the age of three, have a better chance at purchasing subsidised flats. Ten per cent of flats for balloting will be reserved for them, and they will have priority in selecting homes.

They can also join the normal balloting with other applicants to purchase a flat, giving them two chances every time.

If they opt to buy, or rent a flat, their tax reduction ceiling for interest on home loans or domestic rents will be raised from HK$100,000 to HK$120,000, until the child reaches 18.

Those queuing for public housing flats will also see their waiting time cut by one year, starting from next April.

Other support measures include raising the working family allowance by 15 per cent, adding 900 places at day childcare services, and extending an after-school care programme for pre-primary pupils.

3. What about those who can’t conceive?

For couples having difficulties getting pregnant, the government will gradually increase the quota for in vitro fertilisation at public hospitals over the next five years from 1,100 treatment cycles per year to 1,800.

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From 2024, the government will also provide a tax deduction for expenses on the services under salaries tax and personal assessment, subject to a ceiling of HK$100,000 a year.

4. What does the government seek to achieve?

While a population is required to have a birth rate of 2.1 to replace itself, Hong Kong’s stood at 0.9 in the past year.

The government, however, did not set a clear target on the birth rate.

“If you take this as a target, I would say it’s difficult to achieve … in some advanced cities the birth rate is much lower than 2.1,” Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said on Thursday.

“It is not possible to guarantee that they will remain in Hong Kong after growing up … but of course, if more babies are born in Hong Kong, more babies will remain here, although not 100 per cent.”

Sources said authorities only expected the number of births to increase by a fifth over three years, 6,000 babies a year on average. But it is not a hard target or key performance indicator (KPI) for the government.

5. How effective will the new measures be?

Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai, a population expert at the University of Hong Kong’s department of social work and social administration, welcomed the new measures but warned some might only have a limited effect on boosting the birth rate.

“I don’t expect there are any sensible people who would have a baby because of HK$20,000,” he said. “But definitely it will help those parents who would like to have children but have financial stress.”

Yip added the enhanced childcare services were still not enough to meet demand.

Dr Au Yeung Tat-chor, an assistant professor at the department of sociology and social policy of Lingnan University, said the measure reflected the government’s wish to see quick results, but it lacked long-term vision.

Au Yeung said while the cash handout would be helpful to expecting parents, long-term moves, including family-friendly policies at workplaces, more parental leave, and comprehensive public childcare services were important for promoting childbirth.

“Putting forward family-friendly policies can mean changing statutory leave, and that will generate more costs for corporates, which is way more complicated for the government,” he said.

Dr Felix Yip Wai-kwong, assistant director at the Centre of Human Resources Strategy and Development at Baptist University, said the government could consider offering tax incentives for companies to promote family-friendly policies, in addition to adding statutory leave for parents.

He said many big companies in the city laid out their own policies, including setting up their own childcare centres, and providing 20 weeks of maternity and paternity leave for parents.

“But that is all for retaining staff, not encouraging staff to have babies,” he said. “Unless required by labour laws, they could hardly cooperate with the government policy for no reason.”

6. How does the cash bonus compare with other places?

The 0.8 score of the total fertility rate in Hong Kong was followed by South Korea at 0.9, Singapore at 1.0, and Japan at 1.3.

These countries had rolled out baby bonuses to counter the trend ahead of Hong Kong, alongside childcare support and extended leave, among others.

In South Korea, each expecting mother gets a one-off payment of 2 million won (US$1,480), while Singapore pays families S$11,000 (US$8,030) for the first and second child, and S$13,000 for each one after that in instalments.

Japan hands out to low and middle-income families a means-tested monthly child allowance of 15,000 yen (US$100) for each child under the age of three, and 10,000 yen for those aged three to 15. The government also gives a 420,000 yen childbirth allowance for those enrolled in national health insurance.

7. How are young couples reacting to the initiatives?

Insurance agent Marco Tse Wah-ho and primary teacher Michelle Lee Oi-yee, who got married in July, were not impressed by the sweeteners and still preferred to wait a few years before having children.

“They are only sweeteners that will last for a short time, but they will not help me with a responsibility I will have for the rest of my life,” Lee said.

The couple said they needed a comprehensive policy package that addressed issues such as unaffordable housing, a stressful education environment and a demanding work culture.

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Wing Tang Wing-yi, a 28-year-old officer at a charity who is expecting her second child in a month, said the HK$20,000 handout was small compared with the “substantial” child-raising expenses.

“The one-off cash subsidy is a bonus. But whether couples decide to have children has nothing to do with government subsidies,” she said.

She suggested the government consider some long-term subsidies for education and childbearing, adding that she had to opt for private pre-nursery for her one-year-old son.