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

• Cantonese 80.1%, Mandarin 5.5%, other Chinese dialects 5.3%, Tagalog 3%, English 2.8%, Portuguese 0.6%, other 2.8%;
• note - Chinese and Portuguese are official languages;
• Macanese, a Portuguese-based Creole, is also spoken (2016 est.)

major-language sample(s):

世界概况, 必須擁有的基本資料参考书 (Cantonese); The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.12 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.81 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.88 male(s)/female

total population:

0.9 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

• air pollution;
• coastal waters pollution;
• insufficient policies in reducing and recycling solid wastes;
• increasing population density worsening noise pollution

urban population:

100% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization:

1.46% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

municipal solid waste generated annually:

377,942 tons (2016 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually:

75,588 tons (2014 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled:

20% (2014 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 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

history:

• 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)

amendments:

• proposed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the People’s Republic of China State Council, and the Macau Special Administrative Region;
• submittal of proposals to the NPC requires two-thirds majority vote by the Legislative Assembly of Macau, approval by two thirds of Macau's deputies to the NPC, and consent of the Macau chief executive;
• final passage requires approval by the NPC;
• amended 2005, 2012

• 18 years of age in direct elections for some legislative positions, universal for permanent residents living in Macau for the past 7 years;
• note - indirect elections are limited to organizations registered as "corporate voters" and an 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 HO Iat Seng (since 20 December 2019)

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);
• election last held on 17 March 2018 (next to be held in March 2023);chief executive chosen by a 400-member Election Committee for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 24 August 2019 (next to be held in 2024)

election results:

• Fernando CHUI Sai On reelected chief executive;
• Election Committee vote - 380 of 396;
• note - HO Iat Seng was elected chief executive (receiving 392 out of 400 votes) on 24 August 2019 and will take office on 20 December 2019

description:

unicameral Legislative Assembly 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 12 September 2021 (next to be held in September 2025)

election results:

• percent of vote - ACUM 20.1%, UPD 18%, NE 13.8%, UMG 12.7%, UPP 11.4%, ABL 10.8%, PS 6.6%, other 6.6%;
• seats by political group - ACUM 3, UPD 2, UMG 2, UPP 2, ABL 2, NE 2, PS 1;
• composition NA

highest courts:

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]
• Alliance for a Happy Home or ABL [WONG Kit-cheng] (an electoral list of UPP)
• Civic Watch or Civico [Agnes LAM Iok-fong]
• Macau-Guangdong Union or UMG [MAK Soi-kun]
• Macau Citizens' Development Association or ACDM [Becky SONG Pek-kei] (an electoral list of ACUM)New Democratic Macau Association or ANMD [AU Kam-san]
• New Hope or NE [Jose Maria Pereira COUTINHO]
• New Macau Association (New Macau Progressives) or AMN or ANPM [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 AMN)
• Union for Development or UPD [Ella LEI Cheng-I]
• 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

• 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

Fitch rating:

AA (2018)

Moody's rating:

Aa3 (2016)

agriculture:

2.5%

industry:

9.8%

services:

4.4%

industry and services:

12.4%

agriculture/fishing/forestry/mining:

15%

manufacturing:

25.9%

construction:

7.1%

transportation and utilities:

2.6%

commerce:

20.3% (2013 est.)

total:

8.1%

male:

9.9%

female:

6.4% (2020 est.)

lowest 10%:

NA

highest 10%:

NA

• 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 (2019)

number of registered air carriers:

1 (registered in China) (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 21 (registered in China)

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

3,157,724 (2018)

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

31.84 million mt-km (2018)

total:

428 km (2017)

paved:

428 km (2017)

total:

1

by type:

other 1 (2021)

current situation:

• Macau is a destination and, to a much lesser extent, source for women and children subjected to sex trafficking and possibly forced labor;
• most victims come from the Chinese mainland, but others are trafficked from China, Russia, and Southeast Asia;
• victims are lured in by false job offers and forced into prostitution, often being confined to massage parlors and illegal brothels where their identity documents are confiscated and they are threatened with violence;
• Chinese, Russian, and Thai criminal organizations are believed to be involved in recruiting women for Macau’s commercial sex industry

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List — Macau does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so;
• the government trained police, customs, and social welfare officials on human trafficking, funded an awareness campaign, and provided services to victims;
• authorities convicted three sex traffickers but did not sentence anyone to significant prison terms;
• authorities investigated only one potential trafficking case and made no prosecutions;
• the government provided no assistance to any victims, and officials did not initiate any prosecutions or sentence convicted traffickers to significant terms of imprisonment;
• Macau was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2020)