Key facts
- Hong Kong's welfare minister, Chris Sun Yuk-Han, defended the government's decision to stop using the poverty line for aid allocation.
- Sun described the poverty line as a limited statistical concept that fails to identify all needy groups.
- The government plans to expand its support to carers.
- A new 21-indicator framework has been introduced to identify vulnerable populations.
- A new commission on targeted poverty alleviation will be established.
Hong Kong's welfare minister, Chris Sun Yuk-Han, has defended the government's decision to cease using the poverty line as a primary indicator for allocating assistance. Sun stated on Friday that the poverty line is a limited statistical concept that fails to identify all needy groups, particularly those beyond low-income thresholds such as carers.
Sun explained that the poverty line "cannot tell you who is poor, what they need, or how we should help them." He characterized it as a "very statistical concept that is purely based on income and took no account of other things."
The government has introduced a new 21-indicator framework to identify vulnerable groups, as detailed in a report released on Thursday. This new approach aims to provide better support to carers, whose needs are varied and challenging, according to Sun. The government will explore this issue further after establishing a new commission on targeted poverty alleviation.
This expanded focus comes in addition to the three groups already identified by the Commission on Poverty: families living in subdivided flats, single-parent families, and all-elderly households.