Health Bureau director Kuok Cheong U has predicted that Macao will see its lowest birth rate in decades this year, with fewer than 3,500 babies being born in the city. This would make 2025 the least fertile year since 2004, which saw the SAR welcome 3,308 newborns.
Speaking to media after visiting Macao’s first babies to be born in the Year of the Snake, Kuok noted that the birth rate “continued to drop”. He said that a tally of 3,500 would be a “good” result, and noted that this month had already seen significantly fewer births than the same period in 2023.
Last year, 3,603 births were registered between Macao’s Conde de São Januário Hospital and Kiang Wu Hospital, continuing an annual decline that’s been steady since 2016. That’s less than half of the record high – 7,913 – set in 1988, a Dragon Year, like 2024. These are traditionally popular years for Chinese couples to plan giving birth in.
[See more: The Health Bureau is ‘actively’ preparing for a surge in elderly residents]
While 2024 was supposed to be an auspicious year for bringing new humans into the world, a young couple told Lusa that economic struggles – at home and on the national level – had made starting a family seem imprudent. The couple said they were loath to pass their personal debts onto their future children.
“We’re worried about having children because of the national debt, because of the economic [headwinds],” said Tao Xuemei, 28, a school counsellor. “The choice of motherhood really depends on the country’s economic capacity and the ability to pay off the debt.”
Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai has described Macao’s sluggish birth rate as one of the SAR’s biggest long-term challenges. During his election campaign last year, he said that “parents need to communicate with young people to instil in them the need to marry and have children.”
There are currently several government initiatives underway to boost the rate. A new medical-assisted reproduction subsidy programme was launched on 1 December, while the Social Welfare Bureau has been publishing controversial videos promulgating the message that “bearing and raising children adds to one’s happiness.” A labour law concerning maternity leave is also in for an update.
Of course, Macao is not the only place in East Asia struggling with a low birthrate and surging elderly population. While mainland China bucked the trend last year, with an increase from 6.39 to 6.77 births per 1,000 people compared with 2023, South Korea and Japan’s birth rates are plummeting. Their governments are desperately trying to reverse these trends, with South Korea declaring a “demographic national emergency” last year.
