The number of foreign domestic workers has been growing since 1982, when the labour import agreement between Hong Kong and The Philippines were introduced.

Having a maid at a household was used to be a luxary, but the situation started to change in the 1990s, when many families in Hong Kong began to gain enough monthly income to be eligible to employ a foreign domestic worker.

Notably, the number of Indonesian FDW has grown a lot only since 2000s.