Introduciton
It is impossible to deny the critical economic importance of Asia and its role in the world market. Currently, the region is facing positive and negative tendencies, which will determine its future. Asia is a complex and controversial region in which each country follows its line of development, which causes both opportunities and risks. The main issues that will determine the future of Asian countries include the ambiguity of economic processes and the consequences of urbanization and population growth.
Economic Growth
The economies of Asian countries did not suffer much during the global crises of 1998 and 2008 and successfully survived the pandemic without a sharp decline. The rapid pace of economic growth is due to several advantages of Asian countries. Despite the absence of political parties in China, the country’s political system is designed to have competition and an accurate turnover of power (Abdillah et al., 2020). This results in a reasonably effective state regulation system and economic policy, and state investments in infrastructure development.
In Korea, one of the main reasons for the high economic growth in this country was the work ethic factor. The rapid economic development of Korea was based on borrowing Western institutions, especially in legislation and political structure. A very close relationship was established between the significant Korean capital and the state in the country. Like China, another factor that led to rapid economic growth became a low tax burden. Due to this, the country has a high savings and savings rate. Japan has also made extensive use of foreign technology in the past. And at present, it does not need it: it has one of the highest shares of research spending globally.
However, the rapid pace of economic development is not characteristic of all Asian countries. For example, Central Asia is more likely to see stagnation over the past decades. The economic gap will finally divide Asian countries into developed and undeveloped in the future. The widening gap will lead to an increase in the dependence of some countries on others and an increase in economic and social inequality.
Urbanization
Modern processes of urbanization in Asian countries are also uneven. In some areas, the proportion of the urban population is already relatively high, as in Japan; in others, the rural population still predominates, as in India. As a result, the bulk of the region’s labor resources is concentrated in agriculture, demonstrating low labor productivity (Arfanuzzaman & Dahiya, 2019). The urbanization of some areas and the stagnation of others leads to an economic gap, the population outflow from rural areas, and high pollution rates in large cities.
Demographic Growth
Demographic growth will exacerbate the problems of socio-economic development. This growth exacerbates the problem of scarcity of land and water resources. A growing population must be provided not only with resources but also with jobs. Although population growth rates in rapidly developing countries such as China have lightly slowed, unemployment and the number of low-income families can be expected to rise in the coming decades.
Conclusion
Thus, high urbanization rates and economic and demographic growth can be named among the main trends in Asia. However, the heterogeneity of Asian countries, along with the economic gap, ensures rapidly growing social inequality. It is worrying that these trends continue to negatively affect the development of Asian countries. If severe measures are not addressed, Asian countries will soon run out of resources for a growing population.
References
Abdillah, K., Handoyo, R. D., & Wasiaturrahma, W. (2020). The Effect of Control Corruption, Political Stability, Macroeconomic Variables on Asian Economic Growth. Ekuilibrium: Jurnal Ilmiah Bidang Ilmu Ekonomi, 15(2), 161-169. Web.
Arfanuzzaman, M., & Dahiya, B. (2019). Sustainable urbanization in Southeast Asia and beyond: Challenges of population growth, land use change, and environmental health. Growth and Change, 50(2), 725-744. Web.