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4. Divorce and Family

Breakdown

4.1 Public Housing and Divorce

It may be surprising to know that the crude divorce rate in Hong
Kong was 3.1 per 1,000 people in 2013, nearly three times higher than that in
1991. This places Hong Kong in the top ten in the world in divorce, ahead of
China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, but lower than the United States
and top-placed Belarus (see Figure 3)

Figure 3. Divorce rates of selected economies per 1,000 people, 2013

Note : Data for China pertains to 2012.
Sources: Census and Statistics Department, United Nations, and National Centre
for Health Statistics.

Figure 4 shows that the number of divorces in Hong Kong has
been rising since 2001. In 2014, there were about 20,019 divorces, 37,217
marriages, and 19,197 remarriages.

What explains the rise in divorce? The Report contends that a
possible explanation is rooted in the PRH allocation criteria which may
possess incentives for unhappy couples to initiate divorce. The following
sub-chapter will lay out the evidence by providing a demographic analysis
of the people residing in PRH.

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