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Survey findings on disparity between rich and poor released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey to study citizens’ views on the wealth disparity in Hong Kong. The findings showed that about 60% of the respondents considered the problem of the disparity between the rich and the poor to be serious, a drop of 7.5 percentage points compared to a similar survey conducted last year, indicating that people believed the severity of this issue had lessened. However, the survey also found that about 40% of the respondents said that their household income was not enough or just enough to cover their daily expenses.
The telephone survey was conducted in the evening during the period from 17 May 2023 to 6 June 2023, and a total of 722 citizens aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed (landline: 295; mobile: 427). The results showed that 59.6% of respondents believed that the problem of the disparity between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong was serious, a significant decrease of 7.5 percentage points compared to last year’s survey. 30.5% of respondents opined that the situation was “in-between”, an increase of 4.2 percentage points compared to last year. Only 8.1% of respondents felt that the situation was not serious, an increase of 3.7 percentage points compared to last year. The Chi-square test showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the percentage distribution between the two surveys.
32.4% of respondents thought that the problem of wealth disparity was more severe now compared to five years ago, a significant drop of 19.2 percentage points compared to last year’s survey. 49.6% of respondents believed that the situation was about the same, showing a significant increase of 12.6 percentage points compared to last year. 13.9% of respondents thought that the problem had improved, showing an increase of 6.7 percentage points compared to last year. The Chi-square test also indicated a statistically significant difference in the percentage distribution between the two surveys.
Regarding the estimation of income inequality in the next five years, 38.8% of respondents believed that the situation would remain about the same, 29.0% expected it to be more severe, and 21.4% believed that it would improve. Compared to last year’s survey, the percentages had not changed much, and the Chi-square test also showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the percentage distribution between the two surveys.
The survey also found that 7.2% of the respondents said that their current household income was not enough to cover their daily expenses, 32.6% answered just enough, while 44.1% and 11.7% answered quite enough and very enough respectively. When respondents were asked whether poverty was mainly caused by personal factors (such as laziness and low social status) or social factors (such as unfair system and monopoly of resources), 41.1% answered social factors, 23.2% said personal factors, and 24.4% said both. The survey results showed little difference compared to last year, and the Chi-square test also indicated that the percentage distribution difference over the two years was not statistically significant.
Faced with the current wealth disparity in Hong Kong, 75.4% of respondents believed that the government should do more to address the problem, a decrease of 4.7 percentage points from last year’s survey. 11.7% thought that no change was needed, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from last year, while only 1.8% felt that less should be done, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from last year. The Chi-square test showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the percentage distribution between the two surveys. When those who said the government should do more were asked in what areas (each respondent could choose up to two answers), 50.8% answered public housing, 47.3% chose education, and 40.2% said healthcare. In addition, 48.4% of respondents agreed to pay more taxes to help the poor, while 34.5% disagreed.
The survey employed a dual-frame sampling design that included both landline and mobile phone numbers; their response rates were 24.9% (landline) and 30.0% (mobile) respectively. The sampling error for a sample size of 722 was estimated at plus or minus 3.65 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Furthermore, the data in this survey was weighted based on the probability of the respondents being selected via a dual-frame sampling design and on the latest information on the age-sex distribution of the population published by the Census and Statistics Department.
