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Looking back at the year past, 57% said they were satisfied with Hong Kong's development, 12% were dissatisfied. Meanwhile, 58% expected Hong Kong's development in general to become "better" next year, 7% said it would be worse. Besides, 37% considered "economy" to be the most important problem that the government should tackle next year, 20% and 10% respectively thought "medical/health" and "constitutional development" was the most pressing problem. If one had to choose between a "prosperous", "free", "fair", "welfare", and "clean" society, 35% of the respondents would wish Hong Kong to become a "prosperous" society, while 31% and 15% respectively opted for a "fair" and "free" society.
Findings also showed that 57% of the respondents said they were happy in the year past, 12% were not. As for the coming year, 48% believed their personal development would become better, 8% thought they would worse off. As for people's new year wishes, 24% were economic-related, 19% were related to personal health, 11% were related to personal career or studies, and 10% were related to people's livelihood, another 10% did not make any wish.
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Commentary
Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Regarding people's appraisal of Hong Kong' development in the year past, after a big jump of 22 percentage points at the end of 2005, to historical high since this series of surveys began in 1992, people's satisfaction has dropped back slightly at the end of this year, sort of making a small recovery after a big leap. Similarly, after reaching a record high since the handover, the proportion of people who said they were happy in the year past has also dropped a little this year. These figures show that Hong Kong people have remained happy after the change of government leadership last year. Looking at the year ahead, they are also fairly optimistic. It should be noted, however, that the proportion of people who considered medical and health problems to be a pressing issue has jumped 16 percentage points this year, obviously due to recent cases of food poisoning and the emerging problem of mainland pregnant women."
News about POP
POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday afternoon via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the next 7 days. According to schedule, our next release of regular survey findings will be January 2, 2007, Tuesday, between 1pm to 2pm, when the latest popularity figures of people's satisfaction with Legco members in general, the PLA Hong Kong garrison and the Hong Kong Police Force will be released.
Our general practice is to answer all questions on the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site as soon as we receive them, but we will not further comment on the findings. We welcome questions for follow-up purpose, please email them to us at . We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of POP, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.
Starting from January 2006, we have included in our regular press releases a small educational section for the purpose of general civic education, so that we can share our experience with the general public. The subject of our education section today is "About HKUPOP".
About HKUPOP
Year-end review and forecast surveys
It is a common practice that at the end of a year, people would like to look back at their achievement in the year past, and then look forward to what would happen in the year to come. Shortly after HKUPOP was established, we began to conduct year-end surveys. Besides mapping people's general appraisal of the year past, we also ask people for their expectations on, and forecast of, their own development in the year ahead, as well as that of the society and that of the government. Here is a brief description of the development of the survey:
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In December 1992, we began to conduct year-end surveys. At first, we only asked questions on people's forecast of society's development in the year ahead, and their expectations on government policies. From the second year onwards, we gradually expanded our survey to cover people's expectation of their own development, their expectation of society's development, and their general satisfaction with development in the year past.
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The questionnaire we now use comprises 7 opinion questions, namely: "In general, are you satisfied with the development of Hong Kong in the year xxxx?", "Do you think the development of Hong Kong in the year xxxx +1 will be better or worse?", "What do you think is the most important problem that the HKSAR government should tackle in the year xxxx +1?", "What kind of society would you most like Hong Kong to become: a prosperous, free, fair, welfare or clean society?", "Were you happy in the year xxxx?", "Do you have any new year wish?" and "Do you think your personal development will become better or worse in the year xxxx +1?".
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Regarding sample size, before 2000, the sample size of surveys was set at slightly over 500. Since 2000, the sample size was increased to at least 1,000.
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The findings from our "year-end review and forecast surveys" conducted on or before 2000 were released through our newsletter POP Express. After our HKU POP Site was established, the findings are released online, while all previous findings published in our POP Express have also uploaded on-line in various formats.
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