Hong Kong last year saw its lowest fertility rate since 1981, said the city’s welfare minister, who attributed the phenomenon to the year-long coronavirus pandemic.

The city’s total fertility rate was down to 0.87 last year, said Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong in an online article published on Sunday. The figure means that less than one child was born for every woman in her childbearing years.

Last year’s fertility rate was below the 0.9 recorded during the SARS outbreak in 2003 and was the lowest since 1981.

Social policy academics have blamed the Hong Kong government for failing to deliver a population policy over the past two decades.

Although Hong Kong’s performance was not the lowest worldwide, Law described the number as a “historical low” and suggested that it was far below the expected range.

Previous local studies have shown there to be many factors that affect the fertility rate, he added, with the more prominent reasons being the increase in the unmarried population, the rising age at first marriage and the surge in housing costs.

Law also attributed the low fertility rate to COVID-19 and said that authorities should strengthen childcare services and facilities.

Hong Kong’s fertility environment has always been unsatisfactory, but last year’s total fertility rate fell to such a point that reflected a “failure” in the population policy promoted by the government over the past 20 years, said Chung Kim-wah, the deputy chief executive at the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute.

Law’s suggestions were irrelevant because the labor force participation rate of young women in Hong Kong has always been high, Chung said. “The lack of childcare services or nurseries is not what made women reluctant to bear babies,” he said.

Paul Yip, a population health professor at the University of Hong Kong, urged authorities to convince Hongkongers that the city was still hospitable for raising families by addressing issues such as job stability and the increasing immigration rate.

“The key is how to remove the obstacles faced by Hong Kong people who wish to have children,” Yip said.

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