Changes in marital structure and their impacts on Hong Kong society

Abstract

本文首先從結婚數目、年齡及性別差異、離婚數目、單身人口幾個方面詳細地分析香港婚姻結構在過去20年中的變化。這些轉變進一步引起了社會各方面的變化，包括最低的總和生育率、可勞動人口縮減、男女比例不平衡、住戶數量的一系列轉變。為緩解這些轉變對社會帶來的不利影響，需要政府部門以及社會各界多方面共同努力重建家庭的功能 。

This article discusses the changes in marital structure in Hong Kong over the past 2 decades, including the number of marriages, age and gender differences, the number of divorces, and the never-married population. These changes have had significant impacts on various aspects of society, such as a lowering of the total fertility rate, a shrinking of the labour force, an imbalance of the sex ratio, and a reduction in household size and the number of households. To reduce the unfavourable impacts of the changes in marital distribution, a concerted effort by both government and the business sector is very much needed to rebuild the family function in the community.