The resident population of Macao totaled a record 502,113 at the end of August 2006, according to official statistics issued Friday.

The figures from the government-run Statistics and Census Service (SCS) showed that the annual rate of population growth in the past five years averaged 2.9 percent.

The proportion of the elderly population (aged 65 and above) dropped slightly from 7.3 percent in 2001 to 7.0 percent in 2006, the figures showed.

The SCS dues the shrinking of aged group mainly to the influx of immigrants and expatriates.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2007)