População: 1940 versus 1960

Segundo dados oficiais a população de Macau era em 1940 de 374.737 habitantes, uma estimativa muito por baixo. Primeiro porque não se realizou censo nesse ano e depois porque o número de refugiados já era nesta altura muito significativo e viria a aumentar até ao final da segunda guerra.

Com o final da guerra em 1945 milhares de refugiados saíram do território originando uma drástica redução do número de habitantes. No censo de 1950 surgem 188.896 habitantes e em 1960 os números oficiais indicam 169.299 habitantes, menos 205 mil face a 1940.

Excerto de uma audição de William J. Vanden*, Presidente do International Rescue Commite perante o congresso dos EUA em 1962, sobre o "Problema dos Refugiados em Hong Kong e Macau".

"(...) I also went to Macao on this trip and I would make a few comments if I may about that. Evidences of malnutrition were much clearer to me among the refugees arriving in Macao than in Hong Kong. The escapes being made to Macao are much more dramatic in many ways than the escapes being made to Hong Kong involving much peril to the lives of those who had been denied exit permits by Communist officials. Those who escape to Macao having been denied exit permits by the Chinese Government frequently come as a measure of their own personal despair and their own reaction to the Chinese Communist Government. Again I think Macao has done a tremendous job in trying to give sustenance and assistance to the refugees.

The volumtary agencies who work in Macao and in Hong Kong are really worthy of great admiration. Anybody who sees the CARE feeding station in Macao can only be deeply and profoundly impressed, or sees the rehabilitation center established by the American Association for the Overseas Blind, or sees the extraordinary work done by the church groups in Hong Kong and Macao. To spend a day with Father Ruiz in Macao is a personal experience that very few people who have ever had it will forget. He is a person who has given his life to the care of the refugees. (...)"

* esteve em Macau e Hong Kong em 1957.