Macao to enter aging society by 2025: report

Macao's population is forecast to reach 750,000 by 2025, which means the city will face problems of aging and labor shortage, according to a demographic policy report issued by the local government's Policy Research Office, known as Macao's think tank.

According to the report, Macao's population, standing at 640, 700 at the end of March 2015, is expected to reach 710,000 in 2020 at an average annual growth rate of 1.95 percent between 2014 and 2020, while the growth rate will slow down to 1.1 percent in the five-year period from then to 750,000 by 2025.

The population density will ascend from 20,500 people every square kilometers in 2014 to 22,700 in two decades, according to the paper, which was made public on Thursday.

Senior people would account for 16.3 percent of the city's total population a decade later when the average life expectancy will grow to 84.6 years.

The report also indicated that the gap between labor demand and supply is to exacerbate, noting that the total demand for manpower was 528,000 in 2014, however, there were only about 302,000 local residents to fill the positions. The balance would be larger in future.

The aging people may drag down the participation rate of the labor force gradually, the report said.

The report also put forward five comprehensive population policy suggestions, concerning improvement of living quality and population quality, care for the elderly, creating a better environment to have children, as well as complement of labor force.

The office's director Lau Pun Lap said the report is based on more than four years of study after adopting public advices and also fully reviewing the status of Macao's demographics, the political context, demographic rules, the policies and experiences from various countries and regions. Endi