Population Education

I found it difficult to sleep last night because cargo ships that ply Hong Kong's southern coast pass near South Horizons and as fog limited visibility to less than 200 meters, foghorns were blasting their way through the otherwise serene seas. I learned later that nine out of 23 Hong Kong bound passenger planes were diverted to Manila due to heavy fog and low visibility.

With smog hovering the city for the past days it's inevitable to discuss on its causes. I read South China Morning Post yesterday and today. Yesterday was a bit encouraging: millionaires -- people who have liquid assets (not counting physical properties) -- rose to almost 250,000, a good indicator of the city's turnaround in economy from SARS outbreak in 2003.

The news headline today is a downer: that smoking, scarcity of space (is Hong Kong still the most crowded territory in the world?) contributed to a number of deaths in the tens of thousands every year. That the government was accused of lying on the real quality of air Hong Kong has and cleverly concealing the true values. Which is why Hong Kong fell from top of the index of most livable cities in Asia (my favorite section of Asiaweek then) to Singapore and Tokyo -- because of pollution and natural phenomena.

Then comes the issue of population where Hong Kong's small area is crowded with about 7 million people from all races.

It is believed that by 2050 population will reach 9.1 billion from the current 6.5 billion. And by 2030 India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world according to the United Nations study. While Hong Kong recently released a study on its own population growth that its 0.65% annual gain is not enough to fight off the ageing population similar to Japan and other developed countries. Bulk of the number in that 2050 figure will come from developing countries with particular focus on Sub Saharan countries in Africa. I don't understand why relatively poorer countries such as the Philippines, Chad, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and East Timor has higher population growth than others.

One Hong Kong leader proposed to have families bear three children. That would mean better tax breaks. But with a surrounding already crowded and workloads make a typical Hong Kong worker one of the most stressed in the region, the appeal may fall on deaf ears. In the Philippines, no matter how people get educated and the burdens of a big family population boom is on. Not even the threat of AIDS could get in the way.