By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-15 01:11:01 | Updated at 2024-12-15 03:25:22
2 hours ago
Hongkongers in England and Wales had more than 2,120 babies last year, extending their record high figures since the introduction of a bespoke immigration pathway, while the birth numbers in their new homes hit a nearly 50-year low.
But high childcare costs presented significant barriers to entering the workforce, particularly for women, according to a think tank’s report on Hongkongers settling in the UK.
“In 2023, there were 2,129 babies born in England and Wales, where at least one of the parents’ [place] of birth was Hong Kong,” the UK Home Office said in a reply to a freedom of information request the Post made last month.
The number of newborns with at least one parent from Hong Kong rose from 1,568 in 2019 to 1,602 in 2020, 1,665 in 2021 and 1,953 in 2022, according to Britain’s Office for National Statistics.
The 2023 figures, which were up 9 per cent against the year before, were the highest since the British National (Overseas) visa scheme began in 2021.
Britain rolled out the immigration pathway after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020 to ban acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers following the anti-government protests in 2019.
