Overview
Portuguese ships began arriving in 1513. In the 1550s, Portuguese paying tribute to China settled in Macau, which became the official entrepôt for all international trade with China and Japan and the first European settlement in the Far East. The first governor was appointed in the 17th century, but the Portuguese remained largely under the control of the Chinese. In the 1930s and ’40s Macau was declared a neutral territory during the Sino-Japanese War and World War II and became a refuge for both Chinese and Europeans. Portugal officially made Macau an overseas province in 1951. In April 1987, Portugal and China reached an agreement to return Macau to Chinese rule in 1999, using the Hong Kong Joint Declaration between China and the UK as a model. In this agreement, 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 next 50 years. However, after China's multi-year crackdown against the pro-democracy movement in nearby Hong Kong, the governments of China and the Macau Special Administrative Region worked to limit Macau's political autonomy by suppressing opposition activity in the 2021 legislative elections.
Geography
- Location
- Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China
- Total Area
- 28 sq km
- Climate
- subtropical; marine with cool winters, warm summers
- Terrain
- generally flat
- Natural Resources
- NEGL
- Coastline
- 41 km
- Land Borders
- 3 km
People & Society
- Population
- 644,426 (2024 est.)
- Religions
- folk religion 58.9%, Buddhist 17.3%, Christian 7.2%, other 1.2%, none 15.4% (2020 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.)
- Life Expectancy
- 85.3 years (2024 est.)
- Urbanization
- 100% of total population (2023)
Government
- Government Type
- executive-led limited democracy; a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China
- Independence
- none (special administrative region of China)
- Constitution
- previous 1976 (Organic Statute of Macau, under Portuguese authority); latest adopted 31 March 1993, effective 20 December 1999 (Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China serves as Macau's constitution)
- Legal System
- civil law system based on the Portuguese model
- Executive Branch
- President of China XI Jinping (since 14 March 2013)
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
- GDP (Official Rate)
- $50.183 billion (2024 est.)
- Major Industries
- tourism, gambling, clothing, textiles, electronics, footwear, toys