Macau, China, April 15, 2025 (Lusa) - Macau's leader said on Tuesday that a new subsidy, worth €6,000, should help 15,000 children up to the age of 3 by 2025, in order to boost the country's birth rate, currently the lowest in the world. "This year, 15,000 children and babies should benefit, it's a high figure," Sam Hou Fai argued to MPs during the debate on the government action guidelines for 2025 in the parliament. On Monday, also in the parliament, during the presentation of the government action guidelines for 2025 report, the head of the government had announced the creation of a childcare subsidy. Sam Hou Fai said that parents of children with permanent resident status will receive 1,500 patacas ( €165) per month up to the age of 3, totalling 54,000 patacas (€5,939). The head of government also announced an increase in the birth allowance, from the current 5,418 patacas (€596) to 6,500 patacas (€715), and the marriage allowance, from 2,122 patacas (€233) to 2,220 patacas (€244). The aim of these measures is to reverse the fall in the number of births and in the fertility rate, one of the lowest in the world, lamented the leader of the government, which took office on 20 December. Official figures from Macau's Statistics and Census Bureau (DEC) show that there were 3,607 births in the city in 2024, the lowest number for almost two decades. At the end of January, the deputy director of Macau's Health Services, Kuok Cheong U, predicted that there would be fewer than 3,500 births in the region this year, which would be the lowest number since 2004. In 2024, Macau had a fertility rate of 0.58 births per woman, the lowest ever and a long way from the figure needed to replace generations (2.1). The rate is even lower than the estimate made in a report released in July by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA): 0.68 births per woman. Although more optimistic, the UNDESA estimate already indicated that Macau would have had the lowest fertility rate in the world in 2024, a long way behind the second jurisdiction on the list, Singapore, with 0.95 births per woman. On Monday, Sam Hou Fai promised to offer ‘limited services’ of medically assisted procreation free of charge, as well as more and better crèches, "to reduce the pressure on families of working couples". Today, the leader stressed that the government already spends an average of 240 million patacas (€26.4 million) a year to subsidise crèches. In addition, Macau will ask ‘a third party’ for a study on maternity leave in the private sector, currently set at 70 days, and annual leave, set at six days. However, Sam Hou Fai warned that any increase "requires social consensus". VQ/AYLS // AYLS Lusa