Almost 15% of Macao's civil servants can retire by 2029

A director of Macao Administration and Civil Service (SAFP) said that 7.2% of workers “will meet the legal requirements for retirement purposes, such as age and contribution time limit” until 2029.

In addition, over 7.5% of civil servants will reach a contribution period of 25 years over the next three years, an essential condition for requesting reform, Leong Weng In added.

However, in a written answer to questions by Mr Chan Hao Weng, Leong stressed that “it is difficult to accurately predict retirement situations”, because the request for retirement “depends on the worker’s own will”.

Chan Hao Weng was elected in September 2025, on a list led by Portuguese José Pereira Coutinho, president of the Macau Civil Service Workers Association.

The director of the SAFP argued that “the situation of the human resources structure is normal” and said that more than 70% of public workers, about 23,900, “are young adults aged 50 years or less”.

Leong Weng In also stressed that hiring staff “is not simply filling vacancies according to the number of retired workers”.

The leader said that the process ponders factors such as “the real needs of functioning, adjusting skills, optimizing procedures [and] digitizing services provided”.

Still, Leong revealed that it should be held, “before the end of the year”, an evaluation contest for “integrated skills” of degree, whose results allow residents to compete for positions in the Civil Service.

“ The recruitment services will hold the professional or functional skills assessment contests in an orderly manner, in accordance with their own needs,” she added.

Currently, Macau has about 34,000 civil servants, with a reduction of about 4,000 employees since the peak recorded in 2020, when this number exceeded 38,000, government leader Sam Hou Fai said in June.

Official statistics do not reveal how many civil servants have Portuguese nationality, only mentioning that 226 were born in Portugal.