Analysis for Asia

We begin this chapter with a general discussion of indicators of health, income and education for Asian economies. Looking at the last two decades, health indicators for the Asian economies are displayed in Table 2.1. Life expectancy, infant mortality and under-5 infant mortality have decreased in Asia over the last 18 years. The rate of improvement in these indicators has varied widely. In Bangladesh and Nepal, where life expectancy was only 54 years in 1990, there was an improvement of 12 and 13 years respectively by 2008. For other countries where health indicators were already higher, improvement has been more modest. Still, by 2008 several countries in Southeast and East Asia had a life expectancy of over 70. In South Asia and parts of the Mekong subregion the figures were still in the 60s. Infant mortality and under-5 mortality also fell, sometimes dramatically, over the sample period. Most notable was progress in Bangladesh and Lao PDR, where both infant mortality rates were over 100 per 1,000 in 1990. India also made good progress, while Pakistan, where infant mortality was also high, made less progress. The more prosperous countries also improved their performance, although from a lower base. The incidence of TB showed little change, suggesting a lack of monitoring as well as lack of awareness by public health officials.