BRIEF INTRODUCTION

I. Data in this chapter show main social and economic developments of the Macao Special Administrative Region, including data on land, population, employment, national accounts, industry, energy, construction, transportation, communication, external trade, public finance and banking, prices, education, health, housing and social security.

II. Data of 1999 and previous years in this chapter refer to data of the former Macao region.

III. All data in this chapter are provided by the Statistics and Census Services, the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and further tabulated or edited by the International Statistical Information Centre of the National Bureau of Statistics.

IV. According to the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Macao Special Administrative Region maintains its independent statistical system, and compiles and disseminates statistics on the Region. As Macao and the mainland of China use different statistical concepts, definitions and terminologies, users are advised to make reference of the Explanatory Note at the end of this chapter when using and comparing data of the mainland of China and the Macao Special Administrative Region.

V. As Macao is a separate custom territory, trade between Macao and the mainland of China needs customs declaration procedures. In terms of trade statistics, data on Macao's imports and exports include Macao's trade with the mainland of China.

VI. As Pataca (MOP) is the legal tender in the Macao Special Administrative Region, all other currencies (including Renminbi) are regarded as foreign currencies in compiling foreign exchange statistics and related statistics.

VII. For more detailed statistics and technical details, users are advised to read Macao Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, Macao Yearbook of Statistics and other publications compiled by the Statistics and Census Services, the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

VIII. Notations used in this chapter:

".." indicates not applicable; "-" indicates magnitude zero; "..." indicates not available; "r" indicates rectified data; "p" indicates provisional data; "x" indicates estimate; "o" indicates less than half of the unit employed;"~" indicates no figure provided.