Fast facts on Asia's people and economy

Here are some fast facts on Asia's population and economy that I have prepared for my students at Tokyo's Sophia University.

Asia's population

The population of the Asia-Pacific region is 4.2 billion, representing some 60% of the world's population. So while Asia's economic development promises an Asian Century, Asia has always dominated the world in terms of population.

Asia has immense population diversity -- from countries like China (1.3 billion), India (1.2 billion), Indonesia (242 million), Pakistan (177 miilion), Bangladesh (150 million) and Japan (126 million) -- to small countries like Laos (6.3 million), Kyrgyzstan (5.4 million), Mongolia (2.8 million), Timor-Leste (1.2 million) -- to city states Hong Kong (7.1 million), Singapore (5.2 million) and Macao (0.6 million).

Many observers focus on East Asia with its 1.6 billion people and South Asia with its 1.8 billion, but South-East Asia should not be underestimated with its 600 million.

The fertility rate of the Asia-Pacific region is 2.1 (down from 2.8 two decades ago). This means that the population is now replacing itself. But in East Asia fertility is below replacement at 1.6. Both Japan and Korea stand at 1.4, and below China at 1.6, despite its one-child policy. Hong Kong and Macao are even lower at 1.1! In South East Asia, the fertility rate is 2.2. Timor-Leste and the Philippines top the list at 6.1 and 3.1 respectively. Malaysia and Indonesia come next at 2.7 and 2.1, while Singapore (1.3), Thailand (1.6) and Viet Nam (1.8) are below replacement.

South Asia is well above replacement at 2.6, as is the case for some of its big countries, namely India (2.6) and Pakistan (3.3).

How long do Asians live?

Rich countries have by far the longest life expectancies -- Japan (86 women, 79 men), Hong Kong (84 women, 79 men), Korea (83 women, 77 men), Singapore (83 women, 79 men). Asia's big emerging powers have a much lower life expectancy -- China (75 women, 71 men), India (66 women, 63 men), and Indonesia (69 women, 66 men). Poor countries are way down the list -- Cambodia (63 women, 60 men) and Pakistan (women 65 and men 64). North Korea does surprisingly well at 72 for women and 65 for men.

City and country life in Asia?

The urban population in the Asia-Pacific region is 43% of total, up from 33% two decades ago. But there are great differences by sub-region with East Asia at 51%, South East Asia 42% and South Asia at 34%.

The most advanced economies of Japan and Korea are highly urbanized, with urban populations of 67% and 83% respectively. This suggests that the urbanization process well underway in the region has a long way to go, as reflected in the much lower urbanization rates of China (48%), Indonesia (45%), Cambodia (20%), Burma (34%), the Philippines (49%), Bangladesh (29%), India (30%), Pakistan (36%). Not surprisingly, the city-states of Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore are 100% urbanized!

Most regrettably, some 30% of Asia's urban population lives in slums, especially in Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam, India and China.

Asia's aging population

Asia's elderly population has risen from 9% to 11% these past twenty years. Aging is particularly advanced in certain countries with high elderly populations like Japan (23%), Hong Kong (13%) and Korea (12%). Similarly, Asia's child population has declined from 33% to 25%. But a number of countries still have child populations over 30%, like Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Many Asian countries still have a preference for male children, and have more males than females in their populations. The following countries have more than 106 males per 100 females -- China (108), Bhutan (113), and India (107),

Migration in Asia

Only a few Asian countries have large foreign populations -- Hong Kong (39%), Macao (55%), Brunei (37%), Malaysia (8%), and Singapore (39%). Asian countries with rapidly aging populations, like China, Japan and Korea have very low migrant populations, despite the great potential of migrants to their societies. Among the biggest exporters of people are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Globally influential Asians?

Earlier this year, Time magazine published a special edition announcing the 100 most influential people in the world, and this list included 17 Asians.

People like: Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO of Samsung, "The Galaxy's giant"; Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indian Finance Minister, "India's next Prime Minister?"; Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, "the enigma of Shenzhen"; Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo, "Purveyer of cheerful chic"; Noynoy Aquino, President of the Philippines, "a dynastic heir stands up to China"; Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea, "the steadfast scion of Seoul"; Xi Jinping, President of China, "helmsman of an evolving superpower"; Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, "Asia's nuclear bully"; Wang Shu, Chinese architect, "a modernist who builds on tradition"; Aamir Khan, Indian film star and activist, "India's conscience on celluloid"; Vrinda Grover, Indian lawyer, "advocate for India's women"; Andrew Sheng, economist, "charting a path for regulation and growth"; Kai-fu Lee, tech incubator, "China's online agitator"; Malala Yousafzai, activist, "a symbol of courage and conviction"; Peng Liyuan, China's First Lady, "The regime's charm offensive"; Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's opposition leader, "democracy's beacon"; Li Na, Chinese tennis champion, "serving tennis to a billion Chinese"

Asia's economy

In 2010, China's economy overtook that of Japan to become the world's second biggest, with $5,700 billion. India, which has the region's next biggest economy after Japan, is a long way behind at $1700 billion. Indeed, just China and Japan alone account for more than half of Asia's total GDP.

However, when it comes to GDP per capita in current prices, at $43,000, Japan's is ten times that of China's. GDP per capita is also above $40,000 for Macao and Singapore. It is above $30,000 in Hong Kong and Brunei, and above $20,000 in Korea. For all other countries, it is below $10,000. And in the cases of North Korea, Cambodia, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Bangladesh and Nepal, GDP per capita is below $1000 per capita.

GDP per capita in PPP terms is much higher than GDP in current prices in most Asian countries, except for Japan, where it is much lower. On this basis, which seeks to measure the purchasing power of GDP, Japan's GDP per capita is only four and a half times that of China.

Trade has been an important driver of development in Asia. And exports now account for about 30% of GDP in the region, three times that of two decades ago. Small economies like Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam have very large trade shares. Korea's exports amount to over 50% of GDP, more than three times that of Japan, which remains a closed economy, arguably more closed than North Korea. China's exports represent 30% of GDP.

Many Asian countries are large recipients of foreign direct investment, economies like Hong Kong, Macao, Mongolia, Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Although China receives large amounts of FDI, it only represents 10% of GDP. Japan's stock of FDI is extremely low at 4% of GDP, much less than North Korea or Burma. By contrast, Japan's stock of outward FDI is much higher at 15% of GDP.

China has the region's highest number of inbound tourists at 58 million, way ahead of Malaysia at 25 million, Hong Kong at 22 million, and Thailand at 17 million. Japan is a long way behind at 6 million. China is also close to topping the number of outbound tourists, with 70 million, just behind Hong Kong's 84 million.

Asia's global corporations?

Asia also figures significantly in Fortune's Global 500 of the world's largest corporations, with some 190 on the list. The top 10 list -- Royal Dutch Shell, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Sinopec, China National Petroleum, BP, State Grid China, Toyota, Volkswagen and Total -- includes three Chinese companies and one Japanese. In the overall list of 500, there are 89 Chinese companies, 8 Indian, 1 Indonesian, 62 Japanese, 1 Malaysian, 2 Singaporean, 14 Korean, 6 Taiwanese, and 1 from Thailand (most of China's large corporations are actually state-owned enterprises, rather than private companies). By comparison, there are 132 American, 31 French, 29 German, and 26 British.

Asia at the 2012 Olympic Gamese

While the US topped the gold medal tally at the 2012 London Olympics with 46 medals, some 7 Asia-Pacific countries were in the top 20 -- China 38, South Korea 13, Australia, Japan and Kazakhstan each 7, New Zealand 6 and North Korea 4.