The government-appointed Northern District Community Service Consultative Council held its regular monthly meeting yesterday, where some of its members raised concerns about Macau’s persistently low birth rate*.
The nearly three-hour meeting was held at the Patane Activity Centre on Avenida de Demétrio Cinatti (爹美刁施拿地大馬路).
The first part of the meeting was open to the media, during which committee members raised various issues in their speeches. The meeting then proceeded behind closed doors. It included Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) Children and Youth Service Division Chief Lao Kit Im and Early Childhood Service Unit Chief Wong In Leng who introduced the government’s support measures to improve childcare work.
In the post-meeting press briefing, the council’s deputy convenor Chang Kam Pui cited an IAS statement released to the councillors during the meeting, which outlined the bureau’s current primary initiatives in supporting child-rearing. These include, according to Chang, a raft of measures such as increasing the flexibility and accessibility of childcare services, offering parental education courses, and providing financial assistance. The government has already raised childcare subsidies and fee support for childcare services, aiming to encourage childbirth through multifaceted policy support, Chang said.
Fellow councillor Lei Choi Hong said that multiple concerns and suggestions were raised during the meeting by fellow councillors about Macau’s low birthrate and childcare issues. Regarding financial support, they proposed further raising childcare subsidies beyond the existing framework, Lei said.
Lei also said that fellow councillors recommended providing more flexible childcare services for dual-income families and families with special needs, such as holiday and emergency support services, with reasonably formulated fees.
For family education, fellow councillors suggested focusing efforts on both families and schools to strengthen public awareness of the happiness derived from family life and the sense of responsibility associated with childbearing, aiming to enhance citizens’ willingness to have children, Lei said.
Chang also said that fellow councillors expressed the hope that the government would engage in cross-departmental collaboration. They suggested involving entities such as the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDT) and the Policy Research and Regional Development Bureau (DSEPDR) to conduct more professional and in-depth research into the trends of Macau’s low birth rate. Chang said the aim was to identify the root causes of the low birth rate and to publicly release the research findings. Committee members said they believe that only by basing decisions on accurate research and analysis can more effective policies be formulated to fundamentally drive an increase in the birth rate, Chang said.
*The terms “birth rate” and “fertility rate” are often used in demographic studies but represent different concepts – the birth rate is the number of live births in a specific year per 1,000 people in the population, while the fertility rate, specifically the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), estimates the average number of children a woman would have during her reproductive years (typically defined as ages 15-49), based on current age-specific birth rates.
The birth rate is a measure of births relative to the entire population, while the fertility rate measures the average number of children per woman, focused on reproductive behaviour. – Poe
Northern District Community Service Consultative Council Deputy Convenor Chang Kam Pui (right) and Councillor Lei Choi Hong pose during yesterday’s press briefing after the government-appointed council’s closed-door meeting at the Patane Activity Centre on Avenida de Demétrio Cinatti. – Photo: Armindo Neves
