Will fixing Hong Kong’s childcare bottleneck help lift the city’s birth rate?

Will fixing Hong Kong’s childcare bottleneck help lift the city’s birth rate? Parents and social welfare groups say demand for childcare services remains high even as births fall below 30,000 for 12-month period Shortly after Erica Lam found out she was pregnant with her second child, submitting a day care application for her unborn daughter became a top priority, as places at Hong Kong childcare centres were insufficient to meet demand. Even though Lam, a nurse in her early forties, tried to secure a place early, her daughter Ho-yan only managed to enrol in day care services operated by the Sheng Kung Hui church’s St Christopher’s Home, a social welfare group, when she turned eight months old. Meanwhile, her elder son, born in late 2020, had not been able to secure a place. The boy’s grandparents helped care for him during that period. To raise two children and give them a good quality of life, Lam and her husband could not give up their jobs. Sending Ho-yan to day care helped take pressure off their shoulders. “Childcare service is essential for working parents like us. The government encourages childbirth, and we have two children,” Lam said.