Population Growth and its Relationship with Resource Consumption: The Case of Macao SAR, China.

Macao is the city with the highest gross domestic product per capita in China. Under the one-country two-system arrangement, Macao enjoys a high degree of freedom to pursue its economic growth and the central government provides a supportive environment to maintain Macao’s political and social stability. Since the liberalization of the gaming industry in 2002, Macao has transformed into the world gaming center and the place for the meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) activities. There has been renewed growth in Macao’s population because of people migrating from Asia Pacific on top of 2,000-plus newborns a year. Nevertheless, population growth and economic growth pose chal-lenges to the government and business sector. The paper is aimed at modeling Macao’s population growth by using a simple yet accurate logistic model. The paper also explores the characteristics of Macao’s economic growth and the relationship between population growth, economic growth, and resource consumption. Implications on environmental issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]