If you lived in Macau instead of Iceland, you would:

Economy

be 35.1% less likely to be unemployed

In Iceland, 3.6% of the labor force is unemployed as of 2025. In Macau, that number is 2.4% as of 2025.

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make 22.8% less money

Iceland has a GDP per capita of $98,323 as of 2025, while in Macau, the GDP per capita is $75,902 as of 2025.

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Life

be 2.2 times more likely to die during infancy

In Iceland, approximately 2.1 children (per 1,000 live births) die before they reach the age of one as of 2024. In Macau, on the other hand, 4.6 children do as of 2022.

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have 52.7% fewer children

In Iceland, there are approximately 11.2 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024. In Macau, there are 5.3 babies per 1,000 people as of 2024.

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Expenditures

spend 52.1% less on education

Iceland spends 7.3% of its total GDP on education as of 2022. Macau spends 3.5% of total GDP on education as of 2023.

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Geography

see 99.2% less coastline

Iceland has a total of 4,970 km of coastline. In Macau, that number is 41 km.

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Safety

be 56.6% less likely to be murdered

Iceland has a homicide rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people as of 2023. In Macau, that number is 0.6 per 100,000 as of 2023.

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Infrastructure

find 20.4% less home broadband

Iceland has 37.5 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people as of 2024. Macau has 29.9 as of 2024.

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Environment

emit 70.3% less CO2

Iceland emits 8.5 tonnes of CO2 per person each year as of 2024. Macau emits 2.5 tonnes as of 2024.

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Sources: World Bank (2022–2025), The World Factbook (2022). How we calculate this

Macau: At a glance

Macau is a sovereign country in East/Southeast Asia, with a total land area of approximately 28 sq km. Colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and Portugal on 13 April 1987, Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on 20 December 1999. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's political and economic system would not be imposed on Macau, and that Macau would enjoy a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign affairs and defense for the subsequent 50 years.
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How big is Macau compared to Iceland? See an in-depth size comparison.

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