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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey from 26 February to 11 March 2025 to gauge citizens’ views on the Hong Kong government’s 2025-26 Budget. The survey found that 55.0% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the budget; more than 60% said the budget had not done enough in boosting revenue and reducing government’s expenditure respectively.

According to the survey findings, 55.0% expressed dissatisfaction with the budget while 8.0% said they were satisfied and another 32.9% answered “in-between”. Of the 68.5% who believed that the latest budget had not done enough in boosting revenue, 45.7% considered it inadequate while 22.8% rated it as very inadequate. Only 23.2% said it was either adequate (19.7%) or very adequate (3.5%). As for expenditure reduction, of the 63.3% who were dissatisfied, 42.1% believed the budget was inadequate and 21.2% said it was very inadequate, while 28.7% considered it adequate (22.2%) or very adequate (6.5%).

In an attempt to cut government’s spending, the budget announced that the concessionary fares of the Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities will change from $2 to “$2 flat rate cum 80% discount” (note[1]). The survey found that 50.2% of the respondents agreed with this adjustment (agree: 41.5%; strongly agree: 8.7%), while 44.7% did not (disagree: 30.6%; strongly disagree: 14.1%). Furthermore, the result of the chi-square test revealed a statistically significant difference between beneficiaries of the scheme (i.e. those aged 60 or above) and non-beneficiaries (i.e. those aged 18 to 59) in their views towards this adjustment. Of the respondents aged 60 or above, 54.5% expressed opposition (disagree: 32.5%; strongly disagree: 22.0%), while 40.7% showed support (agree: 33.6%; strongly Agree: 7.1%). In contrast, 55.8% of the respondents aged 18 to 59 had a positive attitude towards the adjustment (agree: 46.0%; strongly agree: 9.8%) and 38.7% did not (disagree: 29.6%; strongly disagree: 9.1%).

The survey employed a dual-frame sampling design that included both landline and mobile phone numbers. A total of 711 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 175; mobile: 536) were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 61.0% (landline: 57.8%; mobile: 62.0%). The sampling error is estimated at plus or minus 3.68 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The data in this survey was weighted based on the probability of the respondents being selected via dual-frame sampling design and relevant age-sex distribution of the population published by the Census and Statistics Department before analysis.

[1] The Government Public Transport Fare Concession Scheme for the Elderly and Eligible Persons with Disabilities was launched in 2011 to enable people aged 65 or above and eligible people with disabilities to travel on designated public transport at a concessionary fare of $2 per trip. In 2022, the beneficiary age was lowered to 60 or above. To contain the growth of government expenditure, it was announced in the 2025-26 Budget that the scheme’s concessionary fares will change from $2 to “$2 flat rate cum 80% discount”, meaning that while beneficiaries will continue to pay $2 for trips with fares below or equal to $10, they will need to pay 20% of the full fare for trips costing above $10; additionally, the number of concessionary trips will be limited to 240 per month. This survey only focused on the changes to the fares and did not ask respondents for their opinions on the monthly limitation on the number of trips.