Wednesday, August 13, 2014, 16:38
By Timothy Chui
HONG KONG - Growing dissatisfaction with housing is weighing heavily on the quality of life in Hong Kong, according to Chinese University's annual general well being index.
A general decline in 2013's quality of life was led by a record low in economic indicators since the survey was started in 2002, among three other areas including social and environmental sub groups.
Social sub indices improved slightly, but economic and environmental well being continued downward trends after similar dips in 2012.
One-third of the indicators, largely from the economic sector, dropped, with a lack of affordable housing reaching record levels and weighing the most heavily, followed by near-record hefty rents as well as dissatisfaction over political developments and the media.
Best-ever performances in employment, wage and university entrance indices were unable to blunt an overall decline in economic well-being.
Air quality and recycling satisfaction were also down, but greater spending on education and health helped mitigate a steeper drop in the overall index.
The index initiated in 2002 has a baseline score of 100 and saw a sustained increase to 109.09 until 2006, dropping sharply in 2008 and 2009 before stabilizing around 102.5 for the past four years.
The overall index is culled from publicly accessible indicators and indices including infant mortality, crime statistics, unemployment and wage indices complimented with a telephone survey of 1,004 adults conducted in mid August 2013.
http://www.chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2014-08/13/content_15156601.html
