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 81%, Mandarin 4.7%, other Chinese dialects 5.4%, English 3.6%, Tagalog 2.9%, Portuguese 0.6%, other 1.8%;
• note - Chinese and Portuguese are official languages;
• Macanese, a Portuguese-based Creole, is also spoken (2021 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.

total:

42 years (2023 est.)

male:

41.2 years

female:

42.5 years

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.88 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.89 male(s)/female

total population:

0.9 male(s)/female (2023 est.)

total:

4.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)

male:

4.6 deaths/1,000 live births

female:

4.4 deaths/1,000 live births

total population:

85.2 years (2023 est.)

male:

82.3 years

female:

88.2 years

• 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 (2023)

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 lat 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 10 March 2023 (next to be held in March 2028);
• 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:

2019 : HO lat Seng (unopposed; received 392 out of 400 votes); 2014 : Fernando CHUI Sai (unopposed; received 380 of 396 votes)

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 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 a Happy Home or ABL [WONG Kit-cheng]
• Association of Synergy of Macao ("Synergy Power" or Poder da Singeria) or PS [Vitor VAI]
• Macau-Guangdong Union or UGM [MAK Soi-kun]
• New Hope or NE [José Maria Pereira COUTINHO]
• Union for Development or UPD [HO Sut Heng]
• Union for Promoting Progress or UPP or UNIPRO [HO Ion-sang]
• United Citizens Association of Macau or ACUM [CHAN Meng-kam]
• Women's General Association of Macau or AGMM [HO Teng-iat]

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

• high-income, Chinese special administrative region economy;
• known for apparel exports and gambling tourism;
• currency pegged to Hong Kong dollar;
• significant recession due to 2015 Chinese anticorruption campaign;
• COVID-19 further halved economic activity

Fitch rating:

AA (2018)

Moody's rating:

Aa3 (2016)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

total:

9.2% (2021 est.)

male:

11.7%

female:

6.6%

lowest 10%:

NA

highest 10%:

NA

production:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

consumption:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

exports:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

imports:

0 metric tons (2020 est.)

proven reserves:

0 metric tons (2019 est.)

total petroleum production:

0 bbl/day (2021 est.)

refined petroleum consumption:

14,300 bbl/day (2019 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate exports:

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil and lease condensate imports:

0 bbl/day (2018 est.)

crude oil estimated reserves:

0 barrels (2021 est.)

production:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

consumption:

136.714 million cubic meters (2019 est.)

exports:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

imports:

133.712 million cubic meters (2019 est.)

proven reserves:

0 cubic meters (2021 est.)

• 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 (2020) (registered in China); 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 (2018) mt-km

total:

428 km (2017)

paved:

428 km (2017)

total:

1 (2022)

by type:

other 1

tier rating:

• Tier 3 — Macau does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore Macau was downgraded to Tier 3;
• the government took some steps to address trafficking, including investigating one potential case, disseminating awareness-raising materials, and maintaining guidelines for identifying and referring victims to services;
• however, for the third consecutive year officials did not identify or provide services to any victims, nor initiate any prosecutions;
• Macau has not convicted a trafficker since 2019 and has never identified a victim of forced labor (2022)

trafficking profile:

• human traffickers exploit foreign victims in Macau;
• traffickers recruit most victims from mainland China, Russia, and Southeast Asia using false job offers;
• adult and child victims are forced into commercial sex in casinos, hotels, and private homes, and sometimes have their documents confiscated;
• Casinos and other establishments reportedly allow staff to partner with criminal networks to facilitate sex trafficking;
• migrant construction and domestic workers, primarily from mainland China, Indonesia, and the Philippines may be vulnerable to forced labor in Macau (2022)