Macau’s total population fell by 1.5 percent, or 10,400 people, year on year to 672,800 at the end of last year, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) has announced.
A DSEC statement on Friday said the decline was “mainly due to a fall in the number of non-resident workers [NRWs] living in Macau.” Observers said the decline in NRWs was mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy.
Females accounted for 53.2 of the total population. The proportion of the elderly (aged 65 and above) grew by 1.1 percentage points to 13.3 percent.
According to the bureau, the ageing ratio rose by 10.7 percentage points to 94.4 percent, “indicating that the number of elderly got closer to the number of youth.”
Macau’s local population rose by 0.1 percent to 570,700, after excluding non-resident workers and non-local students living in Macau.
The elderly dependency ratio for the local population grew by 1.6 percentage points to 23.1 percent, implying that about four adults (aged 15-64) supported one elderly person.
A total of 4,344 live births were delivered last year, down by 682 year on year; the birth rate fell to 6.4‰, the lowest level on record since 1985. The median age of mothers who gave birth to their first baby was 31.0 years, up by 0.9 year.
In 2022, mortality rose “substantially” by 684 year on year to 3,004, the bureau said, with 56.2 percent being males; the mortality rate grew by 1.0 per mille point to 4.4‰, reaching a new high since 1991.
Malignant neoplasms (970) accounted for 32.3 percent of the total number of deaths, following by hypertension (332) and pneumonia (281), at 11.1 percent and 9.4 percent respectively.
At the end of last year, Macau had 154,912 NRWs, a drop of 16,186 year on year. NRW numbers declined principally in the hotel and gaming sectors.
At the end of last year, Macau’s number of households amounted to 203,700, up by 1,000 year on year.
Based on its land area of 33.3 sq km, Macau had a population density of 20,204 people per sq km at the end of last year, one of the world's highest.
