Richmond Hospital is preparing to 500 possible ‘birth tourists’ a year
According to the latest preliminary data, the number of non-resident foreign births in Richmond Hospital and Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital increased significantly in 2019. Both hospitals will significantly surpass their previous annual reports on non-resident foreigners giving birth. According to available data, most of them are likely to be Chinese nationals involved in organized birth tourism. The epicentre of the birth tourism industry is in Richmond with 502 non-resident births per year, an increase from 458 in 2019 and from 474 in 2018. Those 502 newborns represent 24% of the 2,094 children, the total number of newborns at Richmond General Hospital. This is the highest overall rate and the highest non-resident birth rate in Canadian hospitals. St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver ranks second in the country with 14.1% of all non-resident births – 203 babies were born to foreigners.
#Birth_tourism, #citizenship, #Vancouver, #British_Columbia