Hong Kong unveils Five-Year Plan targeting innovation spending and doctor ratios

In a detailed Policy Address, Chief Executive John Lee outlined Hong Kong's inaugural Five-Year Plan, aligning it with China's national blueprint and adopting 22 "anticipatory" or "binding" metrics. The plan seeks to lift the share of domestic innovation spending from 1.63% of GDP in 2024 to 3% after 2030 and to grow tourism's value added by up to 50%. Education targets a rise to 100,000 non-local full-time students by 2029/30, while health objectives aim to increase doctors per 1,000 people from 2.25 to 2.43 by 2030 and boost per-capita public health spending.

Environmental binding goals include raising zero-carbon electricity to 30% and cutting PM2.5 concentrations below 14 µg/m³. For the Northern Metropolis, the plan calls for a 750% increase in "spade-ready" sites and a 640% rise in completed housing units, despite criticism over the project's scale and ecological impact.