The findings of a survey released yesterday show that only 27 percent of residents plan to have children or more children.
The survey was carried out by the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (known as Kai Fong in Cantonese). Three Kai Fong representatives announced the survey’s findings during a press conference at the community association’s headquarters in Toi San district yesterday.
According to the representatives, 1,643 local residents aged between 18 and 50 responded to the survey, which was carried out online and in the streets from May 13 to 21. Around 70 percent of the respondents were aged between 26 and 40.
According to representatives, 29 percent of the respondents have no children, 30 percent have one child, 28 percent have two children, 10 percent have three children, and the remainder have four to six children.
According to the findings, only 20 percent of respondents who already have children said that they want to have more kids. They gave three primary reasons for not wanting to have more children, namely that they are unable to look after more children, that they face financial pressure and that their home is too small.
The findings show that only 40 percent of respondents who do not have any children said that they plan to have kids. For the 60 percent who do not want to have children, the main three reasons they gave were that they want to have more private time, that they feel that looking after children brings a lot of pressure, and that they simply dislike children.
According to the findings, about 26 percent of the respondents think that it is wise to have only one kid in a family. Moreover, the respondents said that the biggest costs of raising children are living expenses, education, and housing.
The respondents said they believed that family income, education policies and living environment are three main factors that affect a couple’s decision on whether to have children. The respondents listed three main favourable conditions that they thought would raise couple’s willingness to have children, namely 1) having more time available to look after children, 2) sufficient places provided by day nurseries, and 3) measures that allow couples to be allocated a bigger flat in the government’s subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) in accordance with the number of children they have.
For the near future, the Kai Fong representatives urged the government to roll out measures to protect residents’ employment with the aim of relieving local families’ financial difficulties.
For the longer term, the representatives suggested that the government promote the city’s economic recovery and diversify its economic structure with the aim of increasing the number of types of job positions available in civil society.
The representatives also said that the government should improve its nursery, education and housing policies and measures with the aim of creating favourable conditions to help parents raise their children.
Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (Kai Fong) representatives look on during yesterday’s press conference about their birth rate survey. Photo courtesy of TDM
