Country Facts - Macau

The People

Nationality

Chinese

Ethnic Composition

Chinese	95%
Macanese (mixed Portuguese and Asian ancestry)	3%
Portugese and other	2%

Religious Composition

Buddhist	50%
None/other	35%
Roman Catholic	15%

Languages Spoken

Portuguese is the official language; however, Chinese (Cantonese) is used most frequently. Cantonese is the language of commerce. English is also spoken in most tourist areas.

Education and Literacy

Macau has one university, which closely mirrors Macau's economic expansion pursuits in its educational offerings, most specifically business administration and engineering. Most of the students come from Hong Kong. Portuguese, Chinese, and English influence through the years has offered Macau a unique educational environment. Adult literacy stands at 90 percent (around 93% of males and 86% of females are literate).

Labor Force

Total: 218,000 (2001)
By occupation:

Services and agriculture	54%
Restaurants and hotels	26%
Manufacturing	20%

Geography

Land Mass Total

9.8 sq mi (25.4 sq km)

Land

9.8 sq mi (21 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 0.21 mi (0.34 km)

Border countries: China 0.21 mi (0.34 km)

Coastline

25 mi (

41 km)

Maritime claim

Not specified.

Climate/Weather

Subtropical; marine with cool winters, warm summers.

Terrain

Generally flat.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: South China Sea 0 m
Highest: Col ôane Alto 174 m

Land use

Arable land	0%
Permanent crops	0%
Other	100%

Natural hazards

Typhoons

Environment - current issues

Essentially urban; one causeway and two bridges connect the two islands of Col ôane and Taipa to the Macau peninsula.

Geography Note

Macau is essentially urban; one causeway and two bridges connect the two islands of Col ôane and Taipa to the peninsula on mainland.

Demographics

Population

461,833 (July 2002

)

Age structure

0-14 years:	21.8%	Male: 52,262	Female: 48,439
15-64 years:	70.9%	Male: 154,942	Female: 172,647
65 years and over:	7.3%	Male: 13,616	Female: 19,927

(2002)

Growth Rate

1.75% (2002)

Life Expectancy

81.78 years
Female: 84.73 years
Male: 78.97 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$17,600 (2001)

Infant Mortality

4.44 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.08 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.9 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.68 male(s)/female
Total population:	0.92 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

9.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Macau's economy two years after reversion to China remains one of the most open in the world, according to the World Trade Organization. The government collects no duty on imports and sets no restrictions on exports beyond those required by international agreements. The territory's net exports of goods and services account for 35 percent of GDP, with tourism and apparel exports as the mainstays. The territory therefore has been hit hard by the 2001 downturn in its key U.S. and E.U. export markets. Tourism remained strong, however, driven by a surge in visitors from mainland China. In response to the expected contraction of the economy in 2002, the government has announced a "stimulation" income tax cut and public works program that will push the budget into deficit. China already has extended support by easing restrictions on travel to Macau and is proposing a China-Hong Kong-Macau free trade area.
China's economic weight is increasingly felt, with the mainland now holding more than 50 percent of assets in the financial, real estate, and construction sectors. Mainlanders, however, have been excluded from bidding on the gambling industry licenses that Macau is offering to break up the territory's four-decade-old gambling monopoly. Gambling taxes account for up to 60 percent of revenue, and the government with Beijing's backing intends to revitalize the industry. Macau's GDP grew 4.6 percent in 2000, 2.1 percent in 2001, and 9 percent in 2002, after four consecutive years of decline between 1996 and 1999. The government is predicting a dip in growth for 2003, claiming "only" a 5-percent increase, but these predictions were made prior to the SARS epidemic in Asia.

Unemployment

6.5% (2001)

Inflation Rate

-2% (2001)

Industries

Clothing, textiles, toys, electronics, footwear, tourism, gambling.

Exports

US$2.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports

US$2.3 billion (c.i.f., 2000)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$8 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

US 48%, EU 28%, China 10%, Hong Kong 7% (2000)

Top Import Partners

China 41%, Hong Kong 15%, EU 10%, Taiwan 10%, Japan 6% (2000)

Top Exports

Clothing, textiles, cement, electronics, cameras

Top Imports

Clothing, textiles, yarn, minerals, electrical machinery, fuel, livestock

Debt - external

US$1.5 billion (1998)

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	9a.m. to 5:30p.m.	Closed
Retail	10a.m. to 8p.m.	Slightly shorter hours on weekends.
Banks	9:30a.m. to 4p.m.	Saturday 9:30a.m. to noon.
Government	10a.m. to 3p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Chinese New Year¹	February 1	January 22	February 9
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Ching Ming Festival³	April 5	April 4	April 4
Labor Day	May 1	May1	May 1
Birth of Buddha*¹	May 8	May 26	May 15
Dragon Boat Festival (Tuen Ng)*²	June 4	June 22	June 11
Mid-Autumn Festival*³	September 11	September 28	September 18
National Day of the People's Republic of China	October 1 and 2	October 1 and 2	October 1 and 2
Chung Yeung Festival**¹	October 4	October 22	October 11
All Saints' Day	November 2	November 2	November 2
Macau Independence Day	December 20	December 20	December 20
Winter Solstice	December 22	December 22	December 22
Christmas Eve	December 24	December 24	December 24
Christmas Day**²	December 25	December 25	December 25
New Year's Eve	December 31	December 31	December 31

¹	Celebrations denoting the beginning of the New Year based on the exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and phases of the moon according the the Chinese calendar. Holidays can last up to five days.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	Day of reverence to ancestors, it is considered unlucky to conduct business on this day. Usually takes place on April 4 or 5.
*¹	Buddhist holiday celebrating the birth of Buddha. Most often takes place on the 8th day of the 4th month according to the Chinese calendar. It is a business holiday.
*²	Festival commemorating the failed attempt to rescue the Chinese hero and poet, Chu Yuan from drowning in 277 B.C. Celebrations take place on the 5th day of the 5th month according to calculations of the Chinese calendar.
*³	Also known as the Harvest Moon Festival, and marked by family reunions, celebrations take place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar.
**¹	Family remembrance day, called the Double 9 Festival, it occurs on the 9th day of the 9th month, based on calculations from the Chinese calendar.
**²	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Unofficial Holidays

The Chinese residents of Macau observe Buddhist holidays that vary with the lunar calendar.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press