Macau

Country Summary

Introduction

Background

Colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East. Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China in 1999. China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's political and economic system would not be imposed on Macau, and that Macau would enjoy a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign affairs and defense for the subsequent 50 years.

Geography

Area

total: 28 sq km
land: 28.2 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Climate

subtropical; marine with cool winters, warm summers

Natural resources

NEGL

People and Society

Population

639,971 (2023 est.)

Ethnic groups

Chinese 89.4%, Chinese and Portuguese 1%, Portuguese 0.8%, Chinese and non-Portuguese 0.2%, Portuguese and others 0.2%, other 8.5% (2021 est.)

Languages

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.)

Religions

folk religion 58.9%, Buddhist 17.3%, Christian 7.2%, other 1.2%, none 15.4% (2020 est.)

Population growth rate

0.71% (2023 est.)

Government

Government type

executive-led limited democracy; a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China

Executive branch

chief of state: President of China XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013)
head of government: Chief Executive HO lat Seng (since 20 December 2019)

Legislative branch

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)

Economy

Economic overview

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

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$44.49 billion (2021 est.)
$37.303 billion (2020 est.)
$81.511 billion (2019 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$64,800 (2021 est.)
$55,200 (2020 est.)
$122,800 (2019 est.)

Agricultural products

pork, poultry, beef, pig fat, pig offals, eggs, pepper, cattle offals, cattle hides, goose/guinea fowl meat

Industries

tourism, gambling, clothing, textiles, electronics, footwear, toys

Remittances

0.08% of GDP (2020 est.)
0.04% of GDP (2019 est.)
0.04% of GDP (2018 est.)

Exports

$26.625 billion (2021 est.)
$15.807 billion (2020 est.)
$45.557 billion (2019 est.)

Exports - partners

Hong Kong 66%, China 9% (2019)

Exports - commodities

jewelry, broadcasting equipment, watches, telephones, clothing and apparel (2021)

Imports

$22.788 billion (2021 est.)
$15.216 billion (2020 est.)
$17.594 billion (2019 est.)

Imports - partners

China 33%, Hong Kong 31%, France 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

jewelry, watches, electricity, aircraft, cars (2019)

Exchange rates

patacas (MOP) per US dollar -
Exchange rates:
8.006 (2021 est.)
7.989 (2020 est.)
8.07 (2019 est.)
8.073 (2018 est.)
8.026 (2017 est.)


Page last updated: Wednesday, December 20, 2023