Latest news with #birthrate
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
‘Obedient' AI partners partly to blame for Hong Kong's low births: lawmaker
A Hong Kong lawmaker has said the rise of 'obedient and caring' virtual partners generated by artificial intelligence is partly to blame for the city's low birth rate, noting such digital companions offer emotional support and lack interpersonal conflicts. Legislator William Wong Kam-fai, who is also a computational linguistics professor, called on the government to promote 'happy learning' in schools and lower the income threshold for public housing to encourage more people to have children. Wong spoke at a motion debate during a Legislative Council meeting on Thursday that centred on how to encourage more childbirths, conceding it was difficult to reverse trends of people staying unmarried and having no children. 'The younger generation would rather keep pets than have children, and now there is also the new challenge of AI companions,' he told the legislature. Wong, who is part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong's systems engineering and engineering management department, said that technology companies had launched 'obedient and caring' AI companions to address the needs of single people. 'These virtual partners not only know how to provide emotional value, but also save [the users] from the troubles of interpersonal conflicts. Their attraction [to people] is self-evident,' he said.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
23 kindergartens in Hong Kong plan to close by end of school year
At least 23 Hong Kong kindergartens have indicated they will close by the end of the current school year in August, marking a 28 per cent year-on-year increase over 2023-24, education authorities' data shows. The anticipated rise has been linked to the record-low birth rate in 2022, with children born that year set to make up most of the next batch of first-year kindergarteners. The sector has also warned that more closures may follow if the situation fails to improve. The city has already seen a dip in the number of registered births this year, with levels for the first five months dropping by about 6 per cent year on year, despite small upticks in 2023 and 2024. In a reply to the SCMP, the Education Bureau said that as of June this year, 23 preschools had indicated that they would cease operations in or by the end of the 2024-25 school year. In the first 10 months of 2023-24, 18 kindergartens told authorities that they would close. The tally for that entire school year later reached 29, comprising 17 non-subsidised local kindergartens, eight non-local institutions and four subsidised local preschools. The anticipated rise in closures has been linked to the record-low birth rate in 2022. Photo: Jelly Tse Sector leaders said they expected non-subsidised preschools to account for most of the affected kindergartens, citing the city's high rents and declining student numbers. Among those set to close are two private preschools operated by Greenfield English (International) Kindergarten, an early childhood education group. The two branches are set to close in August, with the company attributing the move to the falling fertility rate. The group had four preschools in Hong Kong this academic year. Many of the pupils set to enter K1 in September were born in 2022, when only 32,500 births were recorded. It is the lowest number since the data became available in 1961. Industry leaders have already spoken about the difficulties of admitting sufficient K1 students for 2025-26. Wave of closures The Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers warned that the early childhood education industry could face a wave of closures if the situation continued. 'The current decline in the school-age population in Hong Kong has made it difficult for kindergartens to enrol students. The financial pressure on kindergartens that run full-day classes has become even more severe, with losses occurring year after year,' it said. The federation urged the government to let subsidised kindergartens running half-day and whole-day classes use public funding more flexibly. 'We suggest the authorities allow the financial surplus of half-day classes to subsidise the financial losses of full-day classes, thereby increasing the financial flexibility of kindergartens and alleviating operational pressure,' it said. The number of registered births in the first five months of this year dropped by about 6 per cent year on year, with the level going from 14,760 to 13,855. The latter figure echoes levels seen in 2022. The number of births in 2023 and 2024 stood at 33,200 and 36,700 births, respectively, marking the second and third lowest figures on record. Choi Lai-fong, vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers and a private kindergarten principal, said insufficient student enrolment levels would only get worse in the future. 'The uptick is so small, while there are more than 900 kindergartens in Hong Kong. With only about 30,000 babies each year, it is already considered very good for a kindergarten to secure 20 new K1 students for the coming year,' she said. Choi said subsidised kindergartens with old facilities and private preschools grappling with high rents would bear the brunt of shrinking birth rates.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
US fertility at an all-time low in 2024
The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows. (AP produced by Javier Arciga) Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
US fertility at an all-time low in 2024
The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows. (AP produced by Javier Arciga)
Washington Post
12 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
The US fertility rate reached a new low in 2024, CDC data shows
NEW YORK — The fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman, new federal data released Thursday shows. The U.S. was once among only a few developed countries with a rate that ensured each generation had enough children to replace itself — about 2.1 kids per woman. But it has been sliding in America for close to two decades as more women are waiting longer to have children or never taking that step at all.
