The government has announced that its new childcare allowance to be launched next month on a provisional basis will cover permanent local residents under the age of three born in or before 2027 while underlining that it will study whether the allowance should continue after its three-year implementation.
Each beneficiary will receive an annual allowance of 18,000 patacas for up to three years. The programme’s application period will start on July 16.
After Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai announced the government’s plan to launch the childcare allowance in his 2025 Policy Address delivered in April, the government announced details of the allowance during a press conference on Tuesday.
The press conference at Government Headquarters was co-hosted by Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon and Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) President Wilson Hon Wai.
Sam said in his 2025 Policy Address that the new childcare allowance aims to boost the city’s birth rate by financially supporting parents in taking care of their children. Sam said at that time that parents of children under the age of three years who are permanent local residents will be entitled to receive an allowance of 1,500 patacas per month, equivalent to 18,000 patacas per year.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Cheong acknowledged that Macau has been affected by a continuous decrease in the number of births over recent years, potentially resulting in present and future problems such as population ageing, a local labour shortage, and declining economic dynamism.
Consequently, Cheong said, the government decided to launch a childcare allowance on a provisional basis with the aim of financially supporting parents in taking care of their children.
Cheong, who is also the spokesman for the Executive Council, said that the government’s top advisory body had completed its discussion of the newly drawn-up administrative regulation (by-law) on the issuance of the childcare allowance.
According to Cheong, only parents whose children are permanent local residents will be entitled to receive the allowance.
The programme covers children born in 2025, 2026 or 2027, where parents will be entitled to receive a yearly allowance of 18,000 patacas, to be issued once a year, for up to three years, namely 18,000 patacas for the year of their children’s birth and 18,000 patacas for each of the two subsequent years.
According to Cheong, parents can only submit their applications via the Macao One Account’s e-government app. The applications can be made by either the newborn’s father or mother.
Parents whose children are born in a particular year will be required to submit their applications by June 30 of the subsequent year at the latest. The allowance will be paid to the beneficiaries via bank transfer.
Cheong said that the new administrative regulation on the issuance of the childcare allowance will take effect on July 15.
Hon said that the allowance’s application period will start the next day after the regulation takes effect, i.e., on July 16.
Cheong said that in consideration of the need to also financially support parents whose children were born before 2025, the allowance will also cover children who were born in 2022, 2023 or 2024, in which case, Cheong said, their parents will be entitled to receive an allowance for one, two or three years depending on their situation.
Hon added that parents whose children were born in 2022 will be entitled to receive the allowance for one year, while those whose children were born in 2023 will be entitled to receive the allowance for two years. Those whose children were born in 2024 will also be entitled to receive the allowance for three years.
According to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC), 750 live births were recorded in the first quarter of this year, down by 237 from the fourth quarter of last year.
Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) President Wilson Hon Wai (left) speaks during Tuesday’s press conference at Government Headquarters about the government’s new childcare allowance as Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon looks on. – Photo: Tony Wong
