HK$1.4 billion given to parents with newborns, but Hong Kong birth rate fell to record low in 2025

The Hong Kong government has awarded more than HK$1.4 billion to parents with newborns since it implemented a cash handout scheme three years ago. Although it was aimed at boosting the city’s birth rate, there was a record-low number of births last year.

A newborn baby. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Welfare minister Chris Sun, in a written reply to lawmaker Roy Chu, said on Wednesday that HK$20,000 bonuses have been distributed to 71,886 applicants. Parents of each baby born after the Newborn Baby Bonus scheme began are eligible for the pay-out.

Of the 87,377 births registered since the scheme first took effect in October 2023, there were 72,267 applications for the bonus. In addition to the cash award, applicants are also prioritised for public housing and enjoy tax benefits.

The three-year programme, set to end this October, was implemented as part of Chief Executive John Lee’s 2023 Policy Address, after the city logged a record-low birth rate.

Hong Kong saw 33,232 births in 2023, and 36,723 the following year. Last year, the figure dropped to 31,072 registered births, according to official census data – below the record-low of 32,501 set in 2022.

The bonus scheme is currently under review, Sun said.

Housing, taxes

Under the Families with Newborns Allocation Priority Scheme, implemented about half a year after the initial cash handout policy was proposed, around 7,400 eligible applicants for a public rental flat had their wait time reduced by a year.

Among those, 1,300 families were allocated an apartment in a public housing development.

And under a scheme giving families with newborns priority to buy a government-subsidised flat, more than 800 families successfully purchased a home in 2024. In 2025, 4,000 of the 100,000 applications received were submitted under the priority scheme.

“The two schemes aim at reducing the obstacles arising from housing needs to childbearing, thereby achieving the objective of encouraging fertility,” Sun said.

Having considered the need to balance incentives for families and the “negative impact” a priority mechanism would have on other applicants, the government deemed the current arrangements appropriate, he added.

According to official figures, 3,200 people with newborns renting a flat or paying off a mortgage benefitted from a higher tax deduction ceiling, while a HK$280,000 tax allowance for having a child will take effect in the 2026-27 assessment year.

Assisted fertility quotas

Alongside handouts, tax breaks, and priority schemes to “promote fertility,” Sun said the Hospital Authority has been working to increase annual quotas for in-vitro fertilisation from the current 1,100 to 1,800 over the course of five years from 2024-25.

Assisted Reproductive Technology Unit, (IVFHK) at Prince of Wales Hospital. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

After additional quotas were provided at Kwong Wah Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, and Queen Mary Hospital, the total number of places available citywide is set to reach 1,600 in 2026-27.