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Old age allowance

Old age allowance
Commonly known as "fruit money", the old age allowance is a monthly cash subsidy the Hong Kong government pays to senior citizens aged 65-69 with low incomes, and all elderly citizens aged 70 and over. The Leung Chun-ying administration in 2012 proposed to introduce a new means-tested subsidy called the Old Age Living Allowance, which provides HK$2,200 per month for the needy only.
Chinese people are investing more in their health and living longer, leading to greater medical expenses that strain the welfare system while boosting consumption and vitality. Illustration: Davies Christian Surya
China's economic recovery

China’s medical spending grows as population ages but insurance fund risks loom

In difficult economic times, Chinese people have become increasingly reluctant to tap into their savings, but healthcare costs are on the rise as the population gets older and people invest more in their well-being.

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Hong Kong housing

Opinion | To tackle poverty, the Hong Kong government must learn from Beijing

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City Weekend

Retiring in mainland China looks good for Hongkongers, except for health care

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Carrie Lam policy address 2021

Cash subsidy boost for Hong Kong elderly among measures to ease poverty

Those under the Old Age Living Allowance scheme are set to receive HK$3,815 per month from second half of 2022, with the current two payments combined into one subsidy.

About 50,000 elderly residents under the Old Age Living Allowance scheme stand to benefit from a higher cash subsidy, according to measures outlined in Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s policy address on Wednesday. Photo: Felix Wong
China economy

China’s rural retirees desperate as pensions ‘cover only oil and salt’

In most parts of rural China, a growing number of elderly residents are forced to rely on their own labour, their children or their meagre savings in their twilight years.

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Inside Out & Outside In

Inside Out | Hong Kong can lift its misery by making happiness serious business

Focusing on economic growth has left Hong Kong sadly at 76th in the World Happiness Report. The city must get serious about tracking happiness to have a stab at a meaningful future.

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Carrie Lam

Relief measures will pose a burden on Hong Kong coffers, welfare chief says

But Law Chi-kwong says the pressure on the government will decrease gradually due to a slower growth of the elderly population from next decade.

Welfare chief Law Chi-kwong hopes the new scheme will encourage those aged between 60 and 64 to return to the job market, travel more, or work as volunteers. Photo: Nora Tam
Japan

Does Japan’s ageing society hold secret to growing old gracefully?

There are some positives to having the ‘world’s oldest population’: Japan is leading the way in welfare funding, dementia care and social initiatives for the retired.

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Poverty

Letters | How a higher minimum wage could deepen Hong Kong poverty

Given the shaky economic conditions in Hong Kong and globally, higher wages could hit job openings in an already tight employment market and ironically push more workers, especially the unskilled and vulnerable elderly, further into poverty.

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Suicides in Hong Kong

Are Hong Kong’s hot summers driving more elderly to suicide?

Researchers reviewed 8,000 historical cases from between 1976 and 2014 involving residents aged 65 or over, and according to the study how someone died could also be linked to maximum daily temperatures.

An elderly man walks along a street in Sham Shui Po. A new study has suggested there is a link between hot weather and suicide. Photo: Sam Tsang
Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Hong Kong’s ex-health chief slams voucher scheme for the elderly

Yeoh Eng-kiong says 78 per cent of elderly residents still use public health care, which does not help city’s overcrowded hospitals.

Elderly residents in North Fanling. The Hong Kong government said that residents aged 65 and older were six times more likely to require hospitalisation than younger residents. Photo: Felix Wong
Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Hong Kong’s ex-health chief slams voucher scheme for the elderly

Yeoh Eng-kiong says 78 per cent of elderly residents still use public health care, failing to help city’s overcrowded hospitals.

Ageing society

Letters | Ageing Hong Kong is on the wrong track with forced retirement

City Weekend

‘Street stall grannies’ a sign Hong Kong elderly falling through cracks

Overlooked group is indicator of struggles with an ageing population and lack of proper financial help or post-retirement jobs to stay active.

Hung, 66, plies her trade in Sham Shui Po, a popular ground for ‘street stall grannies’. Photo: K. Y. Cheng
Blowing Water

Blowing Water | What use is rising life expectancy when elderly care is a disgrace?

Luisa Tam says the heartbreaking poverty experienced by many elderly residents bodes ill for the challenges Hong Kong society will face as life expectancy edges towards 100.

An elderly resident sits on the street in Sham Shui Po in Kowloon. Photo: Edward Wong
Ageing society

How Hong Kong’s ageing society can be an ‘age-friendly society’

With Hong Kong’s 65 and older population set to double over the next 25 years, investments in health care, education, job training, fair wages and an efficient retirement system are necessary to care for the elderly while benefiting the young.

Ageing society

Hong Kong’s elderly need more help to make ends meet

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Hong Kong Budget 2018-2019

‘End means tests for elderly welfare – I may not live to get through them all’

Mrs Mak, 84, and Mr Wat, 87, say one-off sweeteners will not do much for their standard of living

Mrs Mak, 84, and Mr Wat, 87, live a frugal life together in their flat bought in the 1970s. Photo: Handout
City Weekend

Sham Shui Po group helps poor stall owners make ends meet

Idle Market, an NGO started by a woman who grew up in the area, collects household items for less fortunate to sell

City Weekend

Pay attention to lesser-known swallowing disorder affecting elderly

Study shows 30 per cent of Hong Kong’s population are unaware of dysphagia, a condition which affects 600,000 people

Poverty

Hong Kong’s poverty fight needs everyone to sign up

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Members of the Society for Community Organisation march to the government headquarters to demand more poverty reduction measures in the Hong Kong chief executive’s policy address, on October 5. The 2017 policy address, delivered on October 11, pledged more resources for poverty alleviation and the disadvantaged. Photo: Sam Tsang

Exhibition of elderly workers sheds spotlight on Hong Kong's pension 'failures'

To still be working aged 70 is not a milestone many Hongkongers are necessarily proud of - yet in a city lacking much of a social safety net for those who toiled all their lives, it can be inevitable.

Fok Mei-song, 64, Mak Kwok-hon, 68, and Wong Siu-ying, 85, continue to work despite their advanced years. Photo: May Tse

Guangdong retirees collect their fruit money

As many as 19,000 elderly Hongkongers living in Guangdong have applied to a one-off scheme that allows them to receive so-called fruit money without returning to the city, the Social Welfare Department said.

It's up to us all to bring about change in our lives

The chief executive may not be universally popular, but that should not mean his policies should be disregarded. Since July last year, Leung Chun-ying has taken steps on each of the four key issues he promised to tackle: housing, poverty, ageing and the environment.

Recipients of Old Age Living Allowance top 310,000

Patrick Nip Tak-kuen. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Elderly allowance is welcome help for some, but others are not so lucky

Residents who are eligible for the new elderly allowance are delighted to get some help to cope with the higher cost of living, but others with just a little too much money in the bank are not happy with the government's stringent means test.

Leung Wai-chun, 80, lives alone in Tsz Wan Shan, and does not qualify for the allowance. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Glitch delays old-age allowance payments to elderly

A problem in government computer records may mean some elderly residents eligible for the new old-age allowance will not receive the money next week as promised. Meanwhile, thousands of people who received letters saying they could get the HK$2,200 handout have replied that they are no longer eligible.

Retirees on mainland will get allowance

The old-age living allowance to be introduced in April is expected to cover Hongkongers in Guangdong by the end of next year. Welfare secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said the government would extend the means-tested HK$2,200-a-month allowance to Hongkongers who retired across the border after the scheme had been in place for more than a year.

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