Senior citizens wants less stringent residency rules

According to a recent survey, nearly 1 in 5 senior citizens in Hong Kong would like to settle down in the mainland but is bogged down by the strict residential qualifications for old age allowances. Known as ‘fruit money’, it was found that out of the 508 people aged 60 and above interviewed, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong found that almost 50% of them are receiving a HK$1,035 monthly old age allowance.

18% of this group has voiced that they would surely like to settle in the mainland due to a few main reasons mainly the lower living cost, better living environment as because they are able to stay with their relatives. However, those who said that they would not want to move there is due to the inferior quality of medical services as compared to Hong Kong, their inability to adapt to the lifestyle there after getting used to Hong Kong and also because they will lose their old ‘fruit money’. On top of that, 26% of the 416 who does not want to move to the mainland said that they might consider doing so if the government relaxes the residential qualifications and if they are able to continue receiving the allowances after relocation.