Background

Many countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, their governments, academia, and non-governmental organizations are working hard to establish and develop a child index system, so that people can get a more accurate face of children, which is also indispensable when evaluating and formulating policies. in accordance with. One of the guidelines of the United Nations "Child Friendly Cities" is to regularly collect and monitor the information and conditions of local children. However, Hong Kong does not have a database for children.

Overview of Hong Kong, data on children are scattered among different governments and related departments, and there is no comprehensive and systematic collation. Among the relevant indicators in Hong Kong, the information on children is not detailed and there are not many data. Therefore, we set up the "Hong Kong Child Development Indicators 2006" to try to gather research and statistical data carried out by various government agencies, so that all walks of life can more accurately grasp the development status of local children, so that the government and the public can be more comprehensive, effective and effective. Long-term monitoring of the development of children in Hong Kong.

Target purpose

• Build a comprehensive database of children's information.
• More clearly grasp the living conditions and development trends of children in Hong Kong, and instruct the future development direction of policies and social services.
• Effectively monitor Hong Kong’s children’s policies and services, and check whether Hong Kong is a “child-friendly city”.
• Set goals for children’s policies and social services.
• Propose well-founded and practical suggestions to the government and society.

Current research on children in Hong Kong is relatively fragmented in terms of data and information collection, and the coverage is not comprehensive. Therefore, the Association has to establish a more systematic and comprehensive child development indicator system, which can be updated and measured regularly to make up for the deficiencies of the current data system.

Index concept structure and selection

The indicators are divided into seven categories: demographic characteristics, family status, education status, health and safety status, social behavior, economic security and social environmental factors, a total of 61 indicators. Among the indicators, 45 directly reflect the child's own condition, and 16 indicate the state of the child's body and growth environment.

The report will only use official data to ensure the objectivity and conviction of the indicators. The indicators will not include the results of private surveys, but try to refer to and introduce these survey data in the special discussion of the report, that is, the "health" part, in addition to analyzing official data to make the discussion more comprehensive.