What Factors Beyond Economic Poverty Lead People in High-income Societies to Feel Poor? Evidence from Hong Kong

In contrast to the economic approach that dominates poverty research, a subjective approach that asks respondents to evaluate their own poverty status offers an insider’s perspective on poverty. However, most studies investigating the factors associated with subjective poverty in high-income societies have failed to disentangle those factors’ effects on subjective poverty from their effects on economic poverty, and most were conducted in Europe. Using data from the two-wave (2015–2017) Hong Kong Panel Survey for Poverty Alleviation (N = 840), this study examined the extent to which the effects on subjective poverty of eight socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age, residence status, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, housing status, and self-rated health) are mediated through the dynamics of economic poverty using logistic regression and mediation analysis. The results of logistic regression showed educational attainment, housing status, and self-rated health to be significantly associated with subjective poverty. Mediation analysis revealed that the effects of secondary education and living in public or private rental housing on subjective poverty are not mediated through the dynamics of economic poverty and that only 20.40% of self-rated poor health’s effect is mediated. Our findings thus suggest that solving economic poverty alone is insufficient to tackle the issue of subjective poverty in Hong Kong. Several policy initiatives, including improving the career prospects of the secondary-educated, enhancing the mobility outcomes of public rental tenants, and reducing the rent-to-income ratio of private rental tenants, could contribute to alleviating subjective poverty.