Key Findings:

• AXA Stability and Prosperity Index dropped slightly from 63 to 62 out of a possible 1001
• The median amounts of money required for a stable life and a prosperous life are HK$6.49 million and HK$9.77 million respectively
• Physical health continues to be the most important factor in achieving a stable and prosperous life
• Each respondent on average has made 2.46 commitments to improve their health, with over half of them successfully fulfilled
• 73% of respondents think they are underprepared for treatment expenses related to leading2 cancer
• 47% of respondents are concerned about the medical expenses incurred by the post-hospitalisation treatments and recurrence of critical illnesses

Cultivating health consciousness and preventing illnesses, together with adequate health protection and assistance, are two important dimensions of healthy living. This is the fifth year AXA Hong Kong has run the “AXA Stability and Prosperity Index” survey, gauging respondents’ views on their life aspirations and concerns, especially around health issues and critical illness protection.

The survey reveals that while Hong Kong people are paying more attention to enhancing their well-being, their health awareness generally limits to having healthier lifestyles. Most of them have ignored the importance of body check-ups, and are unprepared for dealing with critical illnesses, for example cancer and stroke.

Physical health is the most important factor in attaining a stable and prosperous life

The “AXA Stability and Prosperity Index” currently stands at 62 out of a possible 100, down slightly from 63 last year. The median amounts of money required for a stable life and a prosperous life are HK$6.49 million and HK$9.77 million respectively. Rising cost of living (85%), property prices (67%) and medical expenses (67%) remain the top three concerns for respondents. Among respondents who do not feel their life is very or relatively stable, 64% are most concerned with high living expenses, up 7% from last year.

Same as last year, physical health remains the most important factor for people to achieve a stable (42%) and prosperous life (35%). 63% of respondents indicate that their health conditions have improved or remained the same compared to three years ago. 51% respondents cite more regular exercising as the main reason behind their health improvement, followed by always being happy (50%) and improved eating habits (42%).

While respondents still regard their health age as older than their actual age, the gap has narrowed from two years to one year.

Ms. Andrea Wong, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, AXA Hong Kong, said, “People in Hong Kong still take physical health as the primary factor to achieving a stable and prosperous life. It is encouraging to know that respondents have improved in health awareness. With this annual survey, together with our other health initiatives, we hope to continuously promote healthy living.”

Awareness gap of having regular body check-ups

Our findings show that Hong Kong people try to improve their health condition through exercise and healthy eating habits. Almost half (48%) of the respondents choose to take the stairs rather than use the lift, while over two thirds (69%) eat vegetables at lunch and dinner every day.

Interestingly, each respondent on average has made 2.46 commitments to improve their health over the past three years, 69% of which are related to diet and living habits, with the rest being exercise-related. Over half of these commitments are successfully fulfilled. When talking about the difference between males and females, it is found that they have similar days of persistence before giving up on diet and living habits related commitment (approximately 21 days). However, males can persist longer than females before giving up exercise-related commitments, which are 42 days and 36 days respectively.

On mental health, work stress is the most common issue among respondents. Some of them have experienced stress symptoms such as insomnia, headaches and lower back pain in the past three months. They have taken 7 work days of leave on average every year due to the stress symptoms. When asked about how to deal with stress, travelling (41%) and doing exercise (41%) are the two most popular ways among respondents.

45% of respondents have had body check-ups in the past two years, which means over half of the respondents have not done so because it is too costly (54%), they are too busy (42%) and they think they are still young / still healthy (35%) respectively.

Mr. Benjamin Li, Chief Health and Employee Benefits Officer, AXA Hong Kong, said, “It is encouraging to find that Hong Kong people are making efforts to improve their health condition by exercising and developing good diet habits. However, knowing your health by performing regular body check-ups is also an important step as many illnesses can be cured or controlled if they are detected early. Therefore, people in Hong Kong are strongly advised to monitor their health regularly to help ensure an early diagnosis of potential illnesses.”

Hong Kong people are worried about critical illnesses, but are underprepared

Respondents identify cancer (36%), heart disease (17%) and stroke (11%) as the three critical illnesses they are most concerned about.

Nearly one quarter (24%) of respondents lack any form of individual health protection. It is alarming to note that for this group of respondents, only 31% plan to purchase health insurance in the next 24 months.

Findings reveal a protection gap for Hong Kong people coping with critical illnesses. 73% of respondents think they are not financially prepared to cover expenditure for treatments of the leading cancer. Respondents believe their current financial conditions could only support expenses of the therapy for the leading cancer for around one year (12.1 months) on average, mostly stable compared with the 11.4 months found three years ago, indicating further room for improvement.

Critical illnesses usually require a lengthy recovery journey. 47% of respondents are concerned about the medical expenses incurred by the post-hospitalisation treatments and possible recurrence of critical illnesses.

Ms. Bonnie Lui, Chief Life Product Officer, AXA Hong Kong, said, “ Although respondents report rising medical expenses as their second biggest concern, many of them are still underprepared for medical expenses of critical illnesses. Taking cancer and stroke as examples, apart from surgical and hospitalisation expenses, costs of post-hospitalisation treatments should not be ignored. These would create extra financial burden, and may affect treatment and even the quality of living. To achieve the goal of healthy living, aside from improving living habits and exercising, it is equally important to have sufficient protection against risk.”

Appendix – Working moms’ living habits and health awareness

Our survey also studies working moms’ living habits and health awareness. Findings reveal that among respondents in pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, working moms are more conscious:

• 42% of working moms ask for less rice when ordering, 8% higher than among all respondents;
• More working moms report taking a walk in the park (47%), going hiking (36%) and getting off of transportation earlier to walk home (39%) than other respondents;
• More working moms (56%) have body check-ups in the past two years vs 45% of overall respondents.