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Connor Mycroft

Hong Kong’s low fertility rate is an opportunity rather than a challenge and gives the city a chance to become a global leader in building a child-friendly environment, a former UN resident coordinator in China has said.
Siddharth Chatterjee, who held the role from 2021 until March this year, said Hong Kong could create a “pioneering blueprint” for others to follow if it could earn the status of a “Child Friendly City” under a UN initiative.
While most developing countries and territories are grappling with declining fertility rates, Hong Kong has one of the lowest in the world.
Hong Kong recorded just 0.73 births per woman in 2025, with UN data showing the city had the second-lowest fertility rate among 236 jurisdictions, behind only Macau.
Despite government support measures to incentivise families to have children, Hong Kong recorded fewer than 30,000 births in a year for the first time on record, according to its midyear population update published earlier in August.
But in an interview with the South China Morning Post, Chatterjee, who now serves as an honorary adviser to the Hong Kong Committee for Unicef, said those very challenges could make the city a “model” for others to follow.
“That actually presents an opportunity rather than a challenge for Hong Kong to really play a leadership role in transforming itself into a child-friendly city,” he said.
“If Hong Kong can solve the ‘child-friendly’ equation within a hyper-dense, high-stress environment, we will create a pioneering blueprint. We can show the world how a mega-city can balance economic intensity with deep, structural compassion for its youngest citizens.”


Unicef’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative was launched in 1996 and helps municipalities develop policies that support children’s rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
While more than 100 mainland Chinese cities and numerous others across the region are taking part in the initiative, Hong Kong has never formally incorporated it into the city’s governance framework.
Unicef called on Hong Kong to include the goal of becoming China’s first internationally recognised Child Friendly City by 2030 in its first five-year plan.
The international organisation’s suggestions also included providing at least 18 weeks of statutory maternity leave and introducing legislation to protect workplace breastfeeding rights.
Chatterjee said Hong Kong shared the pressures of ultra-low fertility, high living costs and intense academic competition with other countries in the region.
But he noted that Singapore, by comparison, had invested “more comprehensively and continuously” in family-support measures.
In his National Day address earlier this month, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled a series of new pro-family measures, including linking childcare leave to the number of children a parent has and providing up to S$62,000 (US$48,650) in financial support for every eligible child from birth to age 17.
Chatterjee said Hong Kong’s “relative lag” was most visible in the “systematic integration of child rights across urban planning and daily policy”, the scale and accessibility of early childhood care, and the depth of mental-health services for children and adolescents.
Other recommendations from Chatterjee included expanding subsidised childcare places and establishing a dedicated cross-bureau fund for child and adolescent mental health.
Despite the challenges, he expressed optimism that the city could gain recognition status under the initiative before 2030.
“I think Hong Kong, the way it’s primed, with this convergence of big data, technology and innovation, can actually leapfrog and become a model for many other cities in the world that are still grappling with this issue,” he said.
He also said Hong Kong could be an “education hub for the world”, serving as an alternative to the United States’ Ivy League system, citing the performance of the city’s top universities and current geopolitical developments.
During his tenure as resident coordinator in China, Chatterjee led the work of 26 UN agencies in the country.
Throughout his nearly three decades of work at the UN, he served in leadership roles in countries facing complex challenges, such as Iraq, South Sudan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Taking a broader view of the global landscape, Chatterjee said the world was facing a “five-pronged interlocking crisis” of health, climate change, conflict, food insecurity and rising levels of inequality.
He added that throughout his career, he had never seen the UN under such stress, and that it needed leadership to make the body “fit for purpose”.
“Today we are in a state of such a geopolitical crisis of such proportion, and one country and one individual can actually upend global geopolitics,” he said, clarifying he was “not talking about anybody” in particular.
Touching on China’s leadership, he cited a series of global schemes unveiled by President Xi Jinping in recent years, as well as the benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative, as examples.
He also pushed back against Western criticism of China’s growing influence in the UN – which has included allegations of reshaping international norms and alleged human rights abuses – saying his time working in the country showed Beijing’s support for the multilateral system.
“So the multilateral system needs to get fit for purpose. We need leadership in the UN that makes it fit for purpose,” he said. “I feel that China’s role in this new rebalancing is important.”


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Hong Kong society

Former UN official says Hong Kong’s low fertility offers opportunity. Here’s how

Siddharth Chatterjee now serves as an honorary adviser to the Hong Kong Committee for Unicef. Photo: Sun Yeung

 Hong Kong has been urged to expand subsidised childcare places. Photo: Karma Lo

Hong Kong has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong births fall below 30,000 for first time, even as population edges up

People on their way to work during rush hour in Central. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Midyear census data also showed that during the same period, Hong Kong recorded a net inflow of 39,800 residents. Photo: Sun Yeung

20 Hong Kong couples get triple baby bonus of HK$60,000 each but disbursement lags

The scheme, which launched in October 2023, provides a one-off HK$20,000 bonus to eligible parents for newborns. Photo: Jelly Tse

The scheme was introduced after the number of births in Hong Kong dropped to an all-time low of 32,500 in 2022. Photo: Sun Yeung

Young people increasingly view having children as a source of stress and sacrifice rather than of hope and joy, according to one youth group leader. Photo: Jelly Tse

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Siddharth Chatterjee, former UN resident coordinator in China, outlines proposals to help Hong Kong earn ‘Child Friendly City’ status


Siddharth Chatterjee, former UN resident coordinator in China, outlines proposals to help Hong Kong earn ‘Child Friendly City’ status.


Former UN official says Hong Kong’s low fertility offers opportunity. Here’s how

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Siddharth Chatterjee, former UN resident coordinator in China, outlines proposals to help Hong Kong earn ‘Child Friendly City’ status

Siddharth Chatterjee, former UN resident coordinator in China, outlines proposals to help Hong Kong earn ‘Child Friendly City’ status