$4 Million Dollars to raise a Child in HK?

[Editor]

Taken from today's SCMP.

Lee Lai-shan, HK's Olympic windsurfer champion in 2006 claimed it costs $4M to raise a child in HK. The SCMP investigated this statmenent and discovered a middle class family does spend anywhere from $3-4Mill.

Formula - $250 - $350 every 2 weeks = $8000/yr
Diapers $200-$300/pack for 2-3 weeks = $6000/yr
Dr/ Toys are all $$$

Education - $1500/$4000/mth Local Kindy with elite Kindys at $10,000/mth
Local Primary schools are free but DSS and International schools charge $50,000 - $170,000/yr
Secondary Schools range from $100,000 to the most expensive at $202,000/yr

 

[carang]

for us, so far:

(1) formula: child # 1 = breastfed 50-50 for the first year, so $4000+ 8000= 12000
child # 2= breastfed exclusively for 6 months, then formula, so $4000+8000=12000
(2) diapers for child #1- 2years so, $12000
child #2-3 years so, $18000
(3) kindergarten, child # 1--$600/month k1, $999/month k2, free for 6 months, then $700/month for 4 months=$18800
child # 2--free for 6 months, then $700/month for 4 months k1, $700/month for k2= $9800 (so far)
(4) primary school Child #1--FREE
(5) doctor visits, say, 1 visit every 2 months (at the most!) @ $220/visit X 2 kids= $15840 so far (no way did we come anywhere near that!)
(6) food: two kids, say $3000/month=$43200
(7) clothing=$4000


so far we have spent roughly: $129,800 for TWO kids!

 

[carang]

but i CAN see how if you send your kids to the expensive schools, it would add up very quickly.

i guess it all comes down to choices, of which, in hk there are usually many.

you COULD buy all of you kids' clothes at burberry or armani for kids... or you could buy your kids' clothes in the street markets/bossini/giordano/uniqlo etc

 

[charade]

And Lee Lai Shan being I presume a Cantonese speaker has so many more choices of schools that families that speak only English or languages other than Canto don't. (Not to say that one can't send one's kid to a Cantonese anyway, but it's a little more complicated than if the parents spoke the language). I do think education in English is a big expense in HK though. I'm trying to find the cheapest English school for my son and those obviously get very competitive.

 

[carang]

there's no reason why one MUST choose an english kindergarten. it is a choice. every choice has a consequence. for us, the consequence of having bilingual children was better than being out $10000/month for kindergarten (2 kids).

however, once the kids are in primary school, it would be much more difficult for english-only speaking kids to attend a local chinese-medium school.

 

[carey]

How about the cost of hiring helpers and the lose of income from mums not being able to work. Then there is family outings and vacations.

It's of course down to making choices. Although we don't try to keep up with Jones, but it's getting really expensive to have kids.

 

[Newbie_hk]

Throw in a few thousands for extra curricular activities like swimming, soccer, ballet, violin/piano & the like.

I've found that English speaking instructors for these lessons can be slightly more expensive (not all though) especially if they are targeted specifically at expats

 

[howardcoombs]

I've found that English speaking instructors for these lessons can be slightly more expensive (not all though) especially if they are targeted specifically at expats

Slightly? I think you havent searched enough.

An easy comparison to make is the LCSD website where you will find hundreds of activities at nominal prices which are practically only available for Cantonese speakers. I'd urge you to look up the price of some sailing courses there and you'll find that they are all under $100. I then would challenge anyone to find an English speaking course for anywhere close to that price (hint : you wont)...

This is one side benefit of raising kids that can speak Cantonese in Hong Kong.

 

[carang]

my son is doing: putonghua, violin, brazilian soccer school, tae kwan do through his school... cost per term is $1440 total...i guess we could add those on

but to me, those are "luxuries" and should not necessarily be added on.

to me "the cost of raising a child" should ONLY include MUSTS... everything else is just down to choice. you don't HAVE to learn PTH, but you DO have to eat etc.

 

[evgreen]

There was another article today in scmp about couples in hk choosing not to start a family. One woman's anecdote went something like...fearing the lack of hospital beds, uncertainty of securing a good school, unable to raise a happy child. People with children have to worry about this stuff ANYWAY. Isn't it just a fact of life??? If you ask me, the woman was just too afraid to admit she was selfish. Nothing wrong with that and I agree selfish people shouldn't be having children. Hong kong is as secure of an environment as it can get. Schools are never perfect, but there are options of course! And the public health system while can be strained is first rate.