Macau
Macau or Macao (English: /məˈkaʊ/ (
listen); Portuguese: [mɐˈkaw]; Chinese: 澳門, Cantonese: [ōu.mǔːn]), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR),[lower-alpha 5] is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a population of about 680,000[11] and an area of 32.9 km2 (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.
Macau | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
| |||||||
 Location of Macau within China | |||||||
| Sovereign state | China | ||||||
| Portuguese lease | 1557 | ||||||
| Treaty of Peking | 1 December 1887 | ||||||
| Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration | 26 March 1987 | ||||||
| Transfer from Portugal | 20 December 1999 | ||||||
| Largest parish by population | Nossa Senhora de Fátima | ||||||
| Official languages | |||||||
| Ethnic groups (2016) | 88.4% Han Chinese 4.6% Filipino 2.4% Vietnamese 1.7% Portuguese 2.8% Others[3] | ||||||
| Demonym(s) | Macau[lower-alpha 3] | ||||||
| Government | Devolved executive-led government within a unitary one-party state[6] | ||||||
| Ho Iat-seng | |||||||
| André Cheong Weng-chon | |||||||
| Kou Hoi In | |||||||
| Sam Hou Fai | |||||||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly | ||||||
| National representation | |||||||
| 12 deputies | |||||||
| 29 delegates[7] | |||||||
| Area | |||||||
• Total | 115.3 km2 (44.5 sq mi) | ||||||
• Water (%) | 73.7 | ||||||
| Highest elevation | 172.4 m (565.6 ft) | ||||||
| Population | |||||||
• 2021 estimate | 682,300 | ||||||
• Density | 21,340/km2 (55,270.3/sq mi) (1st) | ||||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2022 estimate | ||||||
• Total |  $40.4 billion[8] | ||||||
• Per capita | $57,929 | ||||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate | ||||||
• Total | $23.4 billion | ||||||
• Per capita | $33,608 | ||||||
| Gini (2013) | 35[9] medium | ||||||
| HDI (2019) |  0.922[lower-alpha 4]very high · 17th | ||||||
| Currency | Macanese pataca (MOP) | ||||||
| Time zone | UTC+08:00 (Macau Standard Time) | ||||||
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy yyyy年mm月dd日 | ||||||
| Mains electricity | 220 V–50 Hz | ||||||
| Driving side | left | ||||||
| Calling code | +853 | ||||||
| ISO 3166 code | |||||||
| Internet TLD | |||||||
| Licence plate prefixes | None for local vehicles, 粤Z for cross-boundary vehicles | ||||||
Formerly a Portuguese colony, the territory of Portuguese Macau was first leased to Portugal as a trading post by the Ming dynasty in 1557. Portugal paid an annual rent and administered the territory under Chinese sovereignty until 1887. Portugal later gained perpetual colonial rights in the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking. The colony remained under Portuguese rule until 1999, when it was transferred to China. Macau is a special administrative region of China, which maintains separate governing and economic systems from those of mainland China under the principle of "one country, two systems".[12] The unique blend of Portuguese and Chinese architecture in the city's historic centre led to its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.[13]
Originally a sparsely populated collection of coastal islands,[14] Macau, often referred to as the "Las Vegas of the East", has become a major resort city and a top destination for gambling tourism, with a gambling industry seven times larger than that of Las Vegas.[15] The city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, US$43,770 in 2021,[16] and its GDP per capita by purchasing power parity is one of the highest in the world.[17][18] It has a very high Human Development Index, as calculated by the Macau government,[10] and the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world.[19] The territory is highly urbanised; two-thirds of the total land area is built on land reclaimed from the sea.[20]