Asia Opportunities (2024)

FAQs

Why is Asia important to the world? ›

Asia is home to the world's earliest civilizations. Its indigenous cultures pioneered many practices that have been integral to societies for centuries, such as agriculture, city planning, and religion. The social and political geography of the continent continues to inform and influence the rest of the world.

ASEAN's demographics are ripe with opportunity – there is a growing middle class, a very high percentage of the population is of working age and domestic consumption is on the rise. GDP per capita is projected to grow 6.5% from 2017 – 2021, with disposable incomes to rise up to 10%.

It remains the growth engine of the world. It's an important part of global supply chains. Asia has innovation and growing consumption and it is increasingly important as a trade area itself.

New income opportunities

Improving corporate governance and stronger management focus on shareholder returns are also supporting higher dividend payouts, making Asia an increasingly important source of income for global investors.

Asia has both the highest and the lowest points on the surface of Earth, has the longest coastline of any continent, is subject overall to the world's widest climatic extremes, and, consequently, produces the most varied forms of vegetation and animal life on Earth.

As the largest, most populous continent and rich in resources, Asia is home to several of the world's oldest civilizations, that produced the majority of the great religious systems, the oldest known recorded myths and codices on ethics and morality.

The bloc's biggest success in recent years has been promoting economic integration among members. It also helped negotiate the RCEP, the world's largest free trade agreement.

The most important element of the ASEAN Way is the practice of the principle of non-interference among its member states. ASEAN members practiced this principle since the founding of the organization to ensure state sovereignty that serves as an expression of respect and equal standing for all member countries.

Highly Integrated and Cohesive Economy

The ASEAN Economic Community envisions ASEAN as a single market and production base. Free flow of goods, services, investments, capital, and labor will allow the development of production networks in the region and enhance ASEAN's capacity as the global supply chain.

Asia's robust economic growth and its position as the world's manufacturing and trade hub give it a critical global role. Asia accounted for 57 percent of global GDP growth between 2015 and 2021. In 2021, Asia contributed 42 percent of world GDP (at purchasing power parity), more than any other region.

Why is Asia important to globalization? ›

Asia is the world's largest regional economy and, as its economies integrate further, it has the potential to fuel and shape the next phase of globalization. Asia is increasingly the center of the world economy.

We expect growth in Asia and the Pacific to accelerate from 3.9 percent in 2022 to 4.6 percent this year, unchanged from the projection from last April. This is largely explained by the post-reopening recovery in China and stronger-than-expected growth in the first half of the year in Japan and India.

Many businesses are turning to Asia for growth and transformation opportunities. The region's improved technological capabilities and infrastructure, growing innovation and an expanding consumer class, offer possibilities that are unparalleled elsewhere.

East Asian and ASEAN countries generally rely on manufacturing and trade (and then gradually upgrade to industry and commerce), and incrementally building on high-tech industry and financial industry for growth, countries in the Middle East depend more on engineering to overcome climate difficulties for economic growth ...

Mining. Asia extracts an immense wealth of minerals, of which its mineral fuels—coal, petroleum, and natural gas—are of greatest value. The largest Asian coal producers are China and Russia (Siberia), followed by India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan.

Asia's history features major developments seen in other parts of the world, as well as events that have affected those other regions. These include the trade of the Silk Road, which spread cultures, languages, religions, and diseases throughout Afro-Eurasian trade.

Asia is home to the majority of the world's population. The peoples of Asia have produced some of the world's most ancient and sophisticated cultures, many of which continue to thrive in the 21st century. Today Asia plays a major role in shaping the global environment—economic, political, natural—that we all share.

East Asian countries are vital contributors to central global communications and trade networks, developing relations with other nations, including those of the Western world, making them a significant contributor to the global economy.