Macau

• essentially urban;
• an area of land reclaimed from the sea measuring 5.2 sq km and known as Cotai now connects the islands of Coloane and Taipa;
• the island area is connected to the mainland peninsula by three bridges

noun:

Chinese

adjective:

Chinese

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.09 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.11 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.8 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.88 male(s)/female

total population:

0.91 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

conventional long form:

Macau Special Administrative Region

conventional short form:

Macau

official long form:

Aomen Tebie Xingzhengqu (Chinese); Regiao Administrativa Especial de Macau (Portuguese)

official short form:

Aomen (Chinese); Macau (Portuguese)

etymology:

• name is thought to derive from the A-Ma Temple - built in 1488 and dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen - which is referred to locally as "Maa Gok" and which in Portuguese became "Macau";
• the Chinese name Aomen means "inlet gates"

• National Day (anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China), 1 October (1949);
• note - 20 December 1999 is celebrated as Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day

• previous 1976 (Organic Statute of Macau, under Portuguese authority);
• latest adopted 31 March 1993, effective 20 December 1999 (Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China serves as Macau's constitution);
• amended 2005, 2012 (2016)

• 18 years of age in direct elections for some legislative positions, universal for permanent residents living in Macau for the past seven years;
• note - indirect elections are limited to organizations registered as "corporate voters" (973 were registered in the 2009 legislative elections) and a 400-member Election Committee for the Chief Executive drawn from broad regional groupings, municipal organizations, central government bodies, and elected Macau officials

chief of state:

President of China XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013)

head of government:

Chief Executive Fernando CHUI Sai On (since 20 December 2009)

cabinet:

Executive Council appointed by the chief executive

elections/appointments:

• president indirectly elected by National People's Congress for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• chief executive chosen by a 400-member Election Committee for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 29 August 2014 (next to be held in 2019);
• note - the Legislative Assembly in August 2012 voted to expand the Election Committee to 400 from 300 seats for the 2014 election

election results:

Fernando CHUI Sai On reelected chief executive; Election Committee vote count - 380 of 396

description:

unicameral Legislative Council or Regiao Administrativa Especial de Macau (33 seats; 14 members directly elected by proportional representation vote, 12 indirectly elected by an electoral college of professional and commercial interest groups, and 7 appointed by the chief executive; members serve 4-year terms)

elections:

last held on 15 September 2013 (next to be held in September 2017)

election results:

• percent of vote - ACUM 18.0%, UMG 11.1%, UPP 10.8%, NE 9.0%, NUDM 8.9%, UPD 8.2%, APMD 7.5%, ANMD 6.0%, APM 6.0%, other 14.5%;
• seats by political group - ACUM 3, UMG 2, UPP 2, NE 2, NUDM 1, UPD 1, APMD 1, ANMD 1, APM 1;
• 12 seats filled by professional and business groups;
• 7 members appointed by the chief executive

highest court(s):

Court of Final Appeal of Macau Special Administrative Region (consists of the court president and 2 associate justices)

judge selection and term of office:

justices appointed by the Macau chief executive upon the recommendation of an independent commission of judges, lawyers, and "eminent" persons; judge tenure NA

subordinate courts:

• Court of Second Instance;
• Court of First instance;
• Lower Court;
• Administrative Court

• Alliance for Change or APM [Melinda CHAN Mei-yi]
• Macau-Guangdong Union or UMG [MAK Soi-kun]
• New Democratic Macau Association or ANMD (an electoral list of the New Macau Association)
• New Hope or NE [Jose Maria Pereira COUTINHO]
• New Macau Association or ANM [Sulu SOU Ka-hou]
• New Union for Macau's Development or NUDM [Angela LEONG On-kei]
• Prosperous Democratic Macau Association or APMD (an electoral list of the New Macau Association)
• Union for Development or UPD [KWAN Tsui-hang]
• Union for Promoting Progress or UPP [HO Ion-sang]
• United Citizens Association of Macau or ACUM [CHAN Meng-kam]

note: there is no political party ordinance, so there are no registered political parties; politically active groups register as societies or companies

• Bar-Bending Workers' Association [WONG Wai-Man]
• Civic Power [Agnes LAM lok-fong]
• Democratic Action [LEE Kin-yun]
• Macau New Chinese Youth Association [LEONG Sin-man]
• Macau Worker's Union [HO Heng-kuok]
• New Macau Association [Antonio NG Kuok-cheong]
• Workers' Self-Help Union [CHEONG Weng-fat]

• green with a lotus flower above a stylized bridge and water in white, beneath an arc of five gold, five-pointed stars: one large in the center of the arc and two smaller on either side;
• the lotus is the floral emblem of Macau, the three petals represent the peninsula and two islands that make up Macau;
• the five stars echo those on the flag of China

• only 2% of land area is cultivated, mainly by vegetable growers;
• fishing, mostly for crustaceans, is important;
• some of the catch is exported to Hong Kong

manufacturing:

2.5%

construction:

9.8%

transport and communications:

4.4%

wholesale and retail trade:

12.4%

restaurants and hotels:

15%

gambling:

25.9%

public sector:

7.1%

financial services:

2.6%

other services:

20.3% (2013 est.)

lowest 10%:

NA%

highest 10%:

NA%

general assessment:

fairly modern communication facilities maintained for domestic and international services

domestic:

• termination of monopoly over mobile-cellular telephone services in 2001 spurred sharp increase in subscriptions with mobile-cellular teledensity exceeding 300 per 100 persons;
• fixed-line subscribership appears to have peaked and is now in decline

international:

• country code - 853;
• landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-3 submarine cable network that provides links to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe;
• HF radiotelephone communication facility;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) (2015)

• local government dominates broadcast media;
• 2 television stations operated by the government with one broadcasting in Portuguese and the other in Cantonese and Mandarin;
• 1 cable TV and 4 satellite TV services available;
• 3 radio stations broadcasting, of which 2 are government-operated (2015)

number of registered air carriers:

1 (registered in China); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 17 (registered in China)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

2,276,436

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

25.435 million mt-km (2015)

total:

424 km

paved:

424 km (2014)

country comparison to the world: 200