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Poverty

Poverty
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Poverty. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
Chief Executive John Lee helps prepare food at a community living room. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong housing

Hong Kong to open 2 more community living rooms in June: John Lee

City leader also says tenants can move into the first batch of light housing flats by March.

World Economic Forum

Opinion | Can world leaders at Davos truly succeed in ‘reimagining growth’?

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Hong Kong

Editorial | Hong Kong meal coupons provide more food for thought

Hong Kong society

Food coupons being dished out to 50,000 elderly Hongkongers for HK$25 meals

Residents will get five coupons which they can use to pay a discounted price of HK$25 for each of five designated meals offered at restaurants in the scheme.

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Chef Secretary Eric Chan (fourth left) attends the launch ceremony with representatives from the catering Industry and groups serving the elderly. Photo: Sun Yeung
The Philippines

Living among the dead in a Manila cemetery

Thousands of Manila’s poorest eke out a living by hawking goods and cleaning tombs while living atop mausoleums in the Philippine capital’s oldest cemetery

Hong Kong society

Opinion | Hongkongers deserve credit for getting through a tough 2024

If John Lee had hoped to rally people to rise to the challenge of 2025 in his New Year’s address, he should have learned from Xi Jinping’s focus on people.

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Indonesia

As Indonesia’s poverty struggles persist, Prabowo’s growth goals look elusive

Indonesia’s new president wants to transform his nation into an high-income economy by 2045, but the fight against poverty is far from won.

A homeless man sleeps on the street near his cart during the morning rush hour in Jakarta in November last year. Photo: AFP
Hong Kong society

Hong Kong group gives government failing grade on efforts to help children

Children’s Rights Association gives score of 26 out of 100, naming housing as its biggest concern, followed by medical services and education for 2025.

Food and agriculture

Opinion | Next Christmas, let’s do more to feed the world’s hungry

The world produces enough to feed all its people, but we still suffer from huge amounts of food waste and millions not having enough to eat.

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Ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

Letters | ‘Ethnic minority problems’ are really education and poverty problems

Readers discuss the negative stereotypes associated with Hongkongers of South Asian origin, a stumbling block in a controversial housing plan, and China’s automation.

Members of the EM Ensemble Band, a choir started to help non-Chinese speaking children learn Chinese and music, put up a performance in Hong Kong on September 14. Photo: Jonathan Wong
China society

Opinion | Spate of random killings rooted in China’s social and economic despair

The mental trauma from pandemic controls and the economic slump have led to feelings of helplessness and despair that cannot be ignored.

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A woman offers a prayer in front of a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on November 13, two days after a driver rammed his car into a crowd there, killing 35. Photo: Kyodo
China food security

China announces plan to cut food waste at production, transport and storage end

Amid climate change and geopolitical pressures, Communist Party aims to raise public awareness about saving food, waste and healthy eating.

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Hong Kong housing

Cheaper homes at risk in Hong Kong plan to wipe out substandard flats: operator

Concern group also says tenants affected by plan will need help relocating as they may be left with few affordable options.

Diplomacy

Opinion | Can Global South and G20 lead new era of poverty reduction?

The credibility of developing countries in the fight against poverty stems from lived experience rather than theoretical discourse.

Children sit in a camp in Gedaref, Sudan, for people displaced due to fighting in Sinja, on July 24. Photo: EPA-EFE
Diplomacy

Opinion | China offers world an optimistic problem-solving framework

China’s collectivist world view isn’t about undermining individuality but about emphasising interdependence. The idea could reshape global governance.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping with other world leaders at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18. Photo: Reuters
Malaysia

‘Don’t have a choice’: Rohingya child brides trapped in Malaysia’s refugee crisis

Rohingya girls as young as 12 are being forced into marriage in Malaysia, escaping dire conditions in Bangladesh refugee camp.

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United States

Opinion | World must forge ahead with globalisation, with or without the US

Washington has long resisted efforts to reform the Western-centric international order. Now Trump appears poised to withdraw from it altogether.

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Education

Ex-Microsoft director’s mission to get disadvantaged girls to university

John Wood’s charity U-Go gives scholarships to help young women in low-income countries in Asia and Africa get a university education.

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John Wood, founder of U-Go, a non-profit organisation that helps economically disadvantaged young women across the developing world attend university, at Hong Kong in November 2024. Photo: Kylie Knott
G20

G20 summit begins with Brazilian host laying out ambitious global priorities

Anti-poverty agenda set by Brazil’s leader gains some initial support, but progress is threatened by instability and conflict around the world.

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Hong Kong society

Letters | Nothing wrong with asking Hong Kong tycoons to act for greater good

Readers discuss Xia Baolong’s call for business leaders to support the city’s growth, potential new Hong Kong attractions and facing up to depression.

Hong Kong housing

93% of children in Hong Kong subdivided flats have spinal issues: survey

Children not having proper desks to do homework is the main reason for problems, Society for Community Organisation says.

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In cramped conditions, children in subdivided flats have nowhere to put a desk. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Sri Lanka

Women candidates signal potential shift in Sri Lanka’s male-dominated politics

While analysts welcome the increase, they caution that more women in politics alone won’t challenge patriarchal norms and achieve true gender equality.

People wait in a queue to cast their ballots at a polling station during Sri Lanka’s presidential election in Galle on September 21. Photo: TNS
Hong Kong society

Letters | Hong Kong’s working class deserve world-class medical care

Readers discuss proposed reforms to Hong Kong’s outpatient services, the city’s aspirations to be an education hub, Trump’s MAGA movement and North Korea’s continuing missile tests.

Wellness

The ‘superfriends’ helping Hong Kong’s homeless

Counsellors at Hong Kong non-profit ImpactHK, which recently opened a new recovery centre, help street sleepers through tough times.

European Union

Croatia arrests 4 over attack on foreign workers

Labourers from Nepal, India, the Philippines and elsewhere have filled tens of thousands of jobs in construction and tourism.

Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic prior to an Informal Meeting of Heads of State or Government of the European Union in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday. Photo: AFP
Africa

US writes off over US$1 billion of Somalia debt

The announcement is the result of a deal between the two countries signed by Somalia’s finance minister and the US ambassador to Mogadishu.

Somalia is one of the poorest countries on the planet, enduring decades of civil war, a bloody insurgency by the al-Qaeda linked jihadist group al-Shabaab, and frequent climate disasters. Photo: AP
Hong Kong tourism

Letters | Halal tourism a golden opportunity to spur Hong Kong’s recovery

Readers discuss the benefits of tapping the Muslim travel market, a Swiftie’s failed attempts to secure an Eras Tour ticket, and poverty alleviation in Hong Kong.

Australia

Australia to slash billions off student debt amid cost of living pressures

Australia’s prime minister also announced plans to make medicines cheaper and help make rent more affordable.

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