Starting July 16, parents of young children with permanent Macao ID cards can apply for a new childcare allowance of 18,000 patacas per child per year for up to three years. The measure was first publicised in Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai’s 2025 Policy Address.
At a Tuesday press conference reported on by multiple media outlets, André Cheong, the
secretary for administration and justice, said the programme was designed to help combat one of Macao’s most pressing demographic challenges – its steadily declining birth rate. The allowance is expected to benefit around 15,000 children this year, with projected annual spending reaching 270 million patacas.
The allowance’s beneficiaries must be permanent residents born between 2022 and 2027. The allowance is payable in the year of the child’s birth and the two following years.
Cheong confirmed the scheme was a “temporary” measure that would be regularly evaluated. “We hope it can assist families with infants and young children while also boosting the birth rate,” he said. “Our goal is for these measures to positively influence population growth.”
[See more: Macao’s ‘ultra-low’ birthrate has been highlighted in a UN report]
The draft administrative regulation for the Childcare Allowance Programme, takes effect on 15 July, enabling either parent of eligible children to apply for their first instalment via the Macao One Account from the day after.
Going forward, applications must be submitted via the Macao One Account by 30 June of the year after birth, and approved funds will be transferred within 60 days. From the second year onward, allowances will be renewed automatically if eligibility is confirmed by the Social Welfare Bureau.
Macao has one of the lowest levels of fertility in the world, according to a United Nations report published last year: just 0.68 births per woman.
The government has already launched a number of measures to boost the rate, including a medical-assisted reproduction subsidy programme and the publication of videos promulgating the message that “bearing and raising children adds to one’s happiness.”
