葉兆輝
本屆政府在上月的扶貧委員會高峰會中公布了2014年香港貧窮情況報告，報告中額外強調公屋的重要扶貧效果。
政府的分析顯示貧窮人口及貧窮率都有顯著下降，由2013年的132萬人（19%）減至96萬人（14.3%），若將公屋的非現金轉移也量化計入住戶收入時，整體貧窮率會額外下降4.7個百分點至9.6%，此扶貧成效甚至高過支出每年超過200多億的綜援現金恒常援助。
筆者近期也針對公屋為健康所帶來的影響進行了相關研究，結果正好呼應了公屋政策對於扶貧的顯著效果。我們發現公屋政策可泯除社經弱勢所造成的健康不平等，為處於健康弱勢的居民帶來好處。
Paul Yip
A new joint-school career-planning initiative called “Shape Our Future: WeCan! – Project WeCan Career Exploration Day” hosted by Wharf Holdings was launched last month. The programme serves about 50 schools in the current school year. The programme targets Form Four students and aims to enhance students’ self-understanding and motivation in career planning, and offers vocational assessments, job tasters, star talks, workshops and consultation sessions for students, teachers and parents.
Paul Yip
Beijing’s announcement that it is relaxing its 35-year-old one-child policy should be welcomed. It is a timely and correct decision; hopefully, it can mitigate the ageing pressure in China and avoid the potential demographic crisis arising from a very skewed and unsustainable population distribution.
At present, about 15 per cent of China’s population is aged 60 or over and that figure is expected to double by 2050.
葉兆輝 | 黃浩傑
回應《2014 年香港貧窮情况報告》，我們相信，多角度地分析不同的貧窮指標，將有助社會大眾更全面地理解和掌握貧窮的真實面貌，為扶貧政策提供數據，讓將來的扶貧工作能更聚焦和有效。前文（〈拆解香港2014扶貧數字〉）對2009年至2014年的貧窮率及貧窮人數變化進行了分解分析（decomposition analysis），發現雖然兩貧窮指標在這5年間均呈現下降，但同期內的人口老化、家庭住戶人數減少、總體人口增長這些人口結構的趨勢，其實對該兩貧窮指標的減少造成了一定程度的阻力。為了更深入地理解本地貧窮結構問題，除了解貧窮的「闊度」（即貧窮率及貧窮人數多寡）外，本文特別探討貧窮的「深度」（即貧窮差距（poverty gap）的大小）。
Paul Yip
The recent summit on poverty provided some encouraging news on alleviating the problem. Taking into account recurrent government cash benefits, the poverty rate dipped from 19.6 per cent to 14.3 per cent last year, and the number of poor people was the lowest in six years.
The poverty rate – the proportion of households earning less than half the median household income – is a relative one. The increase in the number of older adults and single-parent households over the past decade has made it harder to reduce the poverty rate, as these households are often worse off than the general population.
葉兆輝
根據政府最新的貧窮情况報告，2014 年的貧窮率在政策介入前是19.6%，人數132 萬；政策介入後人數減少至96 萬，貧窮率下降至14.3%。「政策介入」是指由政府發放的恆常現金福利（例如綜援、高齡津貼、長者生活津貼、傷殘津貼及鼓勵就業交通津貼等）。表面看，政策介入令貧窮率下降5.3個百分點，但如果我們深入拆解貧窮人口的構成，會發現如果剔除人口結構改變因素，政府扶貧的效果甚至高於這個數值。
黎淑怡 | 程綺瑾 | 葉兆輝
每年的10月10日為世界精神健康日，成立此日的目的是提醒大眾精神健康的重要，以及多關注有精神健康問題的人。根據世界衞生組織對健康的定義，沒有心理健康便沒有健康（No health without mental health），可見精神健康是組成整體健康的必要部分。
可是，普羅大眾對精神健康的認識往往多有誤解，很多時對有精神健康問題的人帶有負面標籤。其實，心理疾病與心臟病和糖尿病等身體毛病一樣，所有人均有機會患上；同樣，只要得到適當治療和支援，是可以痊癒的。
Paul Yip
Paul Yip says a sound policy is essential for a sustainable future, given alarming projections showing a decline in numbers due to low fertility rates, fewer migrants and a rising grey tide.
According to its present trajectory, Hong Kong’s population will rise from 7.24 million to 8.22 million by 2043 and then enter a phase of depopulation. That is mainly due to extremely low fertility and an expected reduction in the number of migrants into Hong Kong over the next 30 years. At the same time, the proportion of older adults (aged 65 or over) is set to increase from the present 14 per cent to more than 30 per cent by 2043, whereas the size of the working population will decrease starting from 2018.
