Hong Kong's 'sandwich generation' are feeling the most financial pressure from taking care of their parents and children among those in the group across Asia, research has found.
A report written by the Economist Intelligence Unit says 53 per cent of Hong Kong's 'sandwich generation', meaning people caught between competing demands of caring both for their children and parents, said they were struggling to cope with the financial burden.
The figure is the highest among Asian countries polled between April and May.
Some 45 per cent of mainlanders said they also felt the same pressure, with the figure for Taiwan at 42 per cent, South Korea 26 per cent and Singapore 21 per cent.
'In places like China and Hong Kong, where few of the elderly can count on pensions or public assistance, and the cost of educating children may be very high, the combined burden on sandwich generation members may be overwhelming,' the report stated.
The study estimated that about 1.5 million people in Hong Kong - or 27 per cent of the 5.5 million people in the working-age population - belonged to the 'sandwich generation'.
It said school fees were a considerable burden even on those in the middle and upper income groups in Hong Kong, where private primary school tuition can cost over HK$156,000 per year.