Category: Asia

GROWTH FORECASTS AND DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS
East and Southeast Asia are among the world’s economic growth zones (cf. 186/187, 190/191, 196/197).

For example, China, which was still an underdeveloped country in many respects in the 1980s, experienced enormous economic development with well above-average growth rates from the beginning of the 1990s. The country is now the second largest economy in the world. In addition, China has been the world’s largest export nation for a number of years. China successfully slowed its explosive population growth through the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979. According to UN estimates, the country will lose its status as the most populous state in the world to India around 2028. Problems of an aging population are becoming increasingly noticeable. In 2013, the government in Beijing therefore relaxed the one-child policy and promised further liberalization of family planning. Japan currently has similar problems with aging.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, India’s economic growth has not been quite as remarkable, but it is still one of the world’s fastest growing economies. With its very young population, the country is currently experiencing the highest absolute population growth worldwide, and according to current estimates, this trend will hardly weaken in the next few years. The reason for this, however, is not a high birth rate – with 20 births per 1000 residents it was roughly the world average in 2013 – the decisive factors are a significantly increased life expectancy and the very young population with a large potential parent generation. For more information about the continent of Asia, please check computerannals.com.