Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Macroeconomic Impact of an Aging Population in a Highly Open Economy

Hong Kong SAR's population is aging rapidly. This paper concludes that, without a change in policies, aging could adversely affect growth and living standards. While higher labor productivity growth and increased migration of younger skilled workers from the Chinese mainland, would attenuate th...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Leigh, Lamin
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. International Monetary Fund 2006
Series:IMF Working Papers
Online Access:
Collection: International Monetary Fund - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 01793nmm a2200229 u 4500
001 EB000930640
003 EBX01000000000000000724236
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 150128 ||| eng
020 |a 9781451863475 
100 1 |a Leigh, Lamin 
245 0 0 |a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region  |b Macroeconomic Impact of an Aging Population in a Highly Open Economy  |c Lamin Leigh 
260 |a Washington, D.C.  |b International Monetary Fund  |c 2006 
300 |a 19 pages 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b IMF  |a International Monetary Fund 
490 0 |a IMF Working Papers 
028 5 0 |a 10.5089/9781451863475.001 
856 4 0 |u http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2006/087/001.2006.issue-087-en.xml  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 330 
520 |a Hong Kong SAR's population is aging rapidly. This paper concludes that, without a change in policies, aging could adversely affect growth and living standards. While higher labor productivity growth and increased migration of younger skilled workers from the Chinese mainland, would attenuate the economic impact of aging, they would not offset it fully. Aging will also put pressure on public finances, particularly as a result of rising health care costs. There is a relatively narrow window of opportunity to implement policies to lessen the impact of aging, given that the demographic effects could start setting in as early as 2015 when the working population's support ratio peaks. In recent years, the Hong Kong SAR authorities have been focusing on policies that could help limit the fiscal impact of aging, including continued expenditure restraint on non-age-sensitive areas, reform of health care financing (including introducing private health insurance system), and tax reforms