Macau’s youth population (0 to 14 years old) will increase by around 31 per cent between 2013 and 2023, according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC). A decade ago, these young people accounted for 11.3 per cent of the total population (68,600), and now 13.2 per cent (90,000). It should be noted that the total population also increased during this period, from 607,500 to 683,700. Compared to 2022, however, there is a negative variation of 0.9 per cent.
It turns out that the elderly population, aged 65 and over, has also been increasing, and not a little: from 48,600 in 2013, they have risen to 95,700, in other words, an increase of almost 97 per cent – more than three times the growth registered among the young population. The elderly, who represented eight per cent of the population a decade ago, have risen to 14 per cent, 0.8 per cent more than the population aged between 0 and 14. This is the first time that the elderly population has surpassed the young population. The ageing index is now 106.1 per cent – an increase of 11.7 percentage points compared to 2022 (94.4 per cent).
Birth rate at an all-time low
3,712 children were born in 2023, a decrease of 623 compared to 2022. As a result, the birth rate stands at 5.5 per cent, with more than half of live births being first-borns. The median age of the mother was 31, similar to 2022.
In 2013, 6,571 children were born, which means that the number of births has almost halved in 10 years. The birth rate that year was 11.1 per cent – up 5.6 per cent on 2023.
