Hong Kong government scores 0 for efforts to improve lives of poor children in 2023 advocacy group poll

In 2023, a Hong Kong advocacy group, the Children's Rights Association, gave the government a failing grade for their efforts to improve the lives of impoverished children. The group expressed their disappointment over the increasing wealth gap, with over 200,000 young residents still living in poverty. Kelly Lee Wai-yi, a 15-year-old ambassador for the association, criticized the government for focusing on economic recovery but neglecting policy support, legislation, and services for child poverty alleviation.

According to the Census Department, 222,600 children under the age of 18 were classified as living in poverty in 2023, accounting for 23. 8% of the total age group population. The annual ratings exercise involved about 20 children from underprivileged backgrounds, all members of the association's executive committee, who discussed and rated the government's policy performance on issues affecting them. The results were then vetted by about 5,000 fellow members, also children.

The association, affiliated with the Society for Community Organisation, identified four policy areas that scored zero: the deepening wealth gap, obstacles for mainland mothers to reunite with their kids in the city, the lack of anti-discrimination laws for new immigrants, and the absence of an independent statutory children's rights committee. The government's rating for narrowing the wealth gap dropped from two points in 2022 to zero in 2023, which Lee attributed to the lack of available data about the city's poorest.