The Hong Kong government has ruled out awarding a "baby bonus" to encourage bigger families, even though the city’s birth rate is one of the world’s lowest.

Women in the wealthy city have an average of only 0.9 babies each compared to nearly three each in the early 1980s, despite the fact that China’s one-child policy does not apply in Hong Kong.

A steering committee was set up last year to look at how to offset the falling birth rate and tackle the problem of an ageing population. But it appears to have decided against radical measures.

Hong Kong’s chief secretary Henry Tang told legislators that measures such as a one-off "baby bonus" payment used in some countries had been considered.

He said the steering committee had concluded it would "not be appropriate" for the government to influence couples’ decisions on whether or not to have babies through policy means.

"The committee considered that childbearing is very much a personal choice of individual couples," Tang said.

Last year, Hong Kong introduced limited tax relief for couples who have more than one child as well as cheaper kindergarten care for parents of young children.

The city of 6.9 million faces an acute labour shortage.