Asian and Pacific Developing Economies: Performance and Issues

The year 1987 was important for many of the developing countries in the Asian and Pacific region since it was four decades earlier that these countries achieved their political independence. It seems, therefore, an appropriate time to review the past economic performance of the developing countries in the region and assess their future prospects. While the outlook for most of them appears optimistic, a number of problems persist and are likely to remain for some time to come. It is undeniable, however, that generally the achievements of the region as a whole have been impressive.The Asian and Pacific region is both large and diverse, if for no other reason than the sheer size and distribution of its population (see Table 1). It accounts for more than half the people of the world. The population of the People's Republic of China alone is 1 billion, and more than 1 billion live in South Asia. About 360 million people live in Southeast Asia and more than 50 million in Hong Kong, Republic of Korea and the countries in the South Pacific.