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A telephone survey was conducted from 25 to 27 August 2015 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to gauge public attitudes towards breastfeeding.  722 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 40.6%.  The sampling error is + or –3.65% at a confidence level of 95%. 

Major findings are summarized as follows: 

In the survey, when asked about their perceived level of acceptance among Hong Kong people towards breastfeeding in public places, two-third of the respondents (67.7%) answered low or very low, while 17.8% said high or very high.  Regarding their view on the proposed legislation to protect breastfeeding women from discrimination in the workplace and when using facilities and services, four-fifth of the 722 respondents (80.0%) agreed or strongly agreed with legislating against such discrimination and 12.2% held opposite views by indicating “disagree” or “strongly disagree”. 

Respondents’ views on various measures to enable women to breastfeed for a longer duration were also examined.  Concerning the legislation on the provision of baby-care rooms in public premises with area larger than a certain size, an overwhelming majority (88.5%) agreed or strongly agreed and 4.4% disagreed or strongly disagreed.  Four-fifth of respondents (79.6%) agreed with the proposal to extend the maternity leave period from 10 weeks in the current provision to 14 weeks as recommended by the International Labour Organization in order to prolong the duration of breastfeeding, while 11.9% of them reported “disagree” or “very disagree”.  Also, 85.5% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the implementation of the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Policy by employers to permit lactation breaks during a workday and to provide appropriate space and refrigeration facilities, while 6.7% opposed to this. 

Nearly two-third of the 722 respondents (64.1%) regarded the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Policy as “feasible” or “very feasible” and a quarter (25.2%) thought otherwise.  In terms of its long-term impact on employers, one-third of them (33.0%) thought it would bring more benefits, while 11.8% considered it to be detrimental.  Almost half of the respondents (48.5%) said this policy would have mixed effects on employers.

Nearly three quarters of the respondents (73.8%) said that breastmilk is more nutritious than formula milk and 1.8% thought the opposite.  19.4% thought both are the same in terms of nutrition. 

The survey reveals that Hong Kong people generally support the idea of providing breastfeeding-friendly environment, however, they are also skeptical about the feasibility and the long-term benefits of the related policies.  A further point to note is that, a non-negligible percentage of respondents answered “don’t know”, “difficult to say”, or “never thought about it” in most of the questions which might reflect the lack of knowledge about breastfeeding among some members of the public.  Before the legislation to protect breastfeeding women from discrimination, therefore, education and promotion on the long-term benefits of breastfeeding to babies, mothers, families, organizations, healthcare system and society will be needed to enhance the level of acceptance among the public and employers towards breastfeeding.