Objectives
The population by-census is a large-scale household sample survey conducted in between two censuses in accordance with international practice. The aim of the 2016 Population By-census is to obtain up-to-date information for updating the population statistics of Macao prior to the next round of population census (in 2021), and for keeping track of the changes in population including population size, age structure, gender distribution, educational attainment, economic activity status, etc. The information collected serves as benchmark data for revising population estimates for past years and preparing population projections for future years; it also provides an invaluable reference on various aspects such as policy formulation, academic research, and business decision-making.
Data Collection Period
The 2016 Population By-census will be conducted over a period of 15 days, from 7 to 21 August 2016
By-census Coverage
The 2016 Population By-census adopts a sampling fraction of one-seventh to select about 33,000 housing units in Macao for enumeration. Detailed information on social, economic and housing characteristics are collected from individuals residing in these housing units. All selected households will receive a notification letter from DSEC in early August.
In order to obtain accurate inferences on the demographic characteristics of different population groups, besides general households, all collective living quarters (including staff quarters, institutes, hospitals, etc.) and vessels berthed in the maritime area administered by the Macau SAR are also covered in the 2016 Population By-census.
Legislations
The Statistics and Census Service conducts this survey under the regulations of the Statistical Information System of Macao as published in
Decree Law no. 62/96/M. Under Article 9 of the Decree Law, all survey respondents are obliged to provide the necessary information within a specified period.
As regards statistical confidentiality, under Article 7 of the Decree Law and
Dispatch no. 242/GM/99 on Confidentiality of Statistics and Approval of Official Statistics Dissemination, all personnel who participate in the 2016 Population By-census must strictly comply with the regulations of statistical confidentiality, and must not disclose to any third party any individual statistical information obtained on duty nor use the information for non-statistical purposes.
Furthermore, as stipulated in
Law no. 8/2005 Personal Data Protection Act, respondents have the right to consult and rectify information provided.
History
Aside from the population census carried out once every ten years, population by-censuses were conducted in 1996 and 2006. Along with social development and in response to the needs of data users, information collected from population censuses and by-censuses have been adjusted accordingly. For instance, questions on the availability of basic housing facilities such as toilet, fuel and water supply were removed since 2001, while information on usage of computer and Internet were included; the 2006 Population By-census collected additional data on resident participation in leisure activities; the 2011 Population Census collected more detailed information on higher education attainment, etc. In the 2016 Population By-census, questions on job changes, self-care ability of individuals aged 60 and above, professional certification, etc. will be added.
Principal indicators of population censuses and by-censuses
| |
1996 |
2001 |
2006 |
2011 |
| Resident population |
414,128 |
435,235 |
502,113 |
552,503 |
| Proportion of female population |
51.9% |
52.0% |
51.2% |
52.0% |
| Median age of population |
30.5 years |
33.3 years |
35.3 years |
37.0 years |
| Proportion of population in the Islands |
4.9% |
10.3% |
13.3% |
15.0% |
| Proportion of population with tertiary education |
5.5% |
7.4% |
11.2% |
16.7% |
| Number of households |
119,966 |
134,965 |
159,412 |
170,769 |
| Average household size |
3.38 persons |
3.14 persons |
3.00 persons |
3.08 persons |
Logo
The 2016 Population By-census logo depicts a house made up of two Chinese characters “人” and “口”, which symbolizes housing and population as being the observation units of the population by-census.