New Delhi India, Pakistan and two other countries are bucking the trend as Asia’s working-age population shrinks sharply. The median working age in Asia’s top economies is 50, according to an analysis by Moody’s Investors Service. These include countries such as China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong. While the working-age population of nine major Asian economies continued to decline, India (0.4%), Pakistan (4.7%), Bangladesh (0.2%) and the Philippines (1.3%) performed well, the report said. side. The average working age in these four countries is 25, which eases the situation somewhat.
Developing economies such as India (0.4%), Pakistan (4.7%), Bangladesh (0.2%) and the Philippines (1.3%) showed a brighter side. The median working age in Asia’s top economies is 50, according to an analysis by Moody’s Investors Service. These include countries such as China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong. “A young, growing and increasingly affluent population has supported Asia’s economic expansion. But parts of the region are now aging rapidly, in some cases at relatively low income levels,” the report said.
Demographics have a significant impact on businesses, financial institutions and economies.
A young and affluent population will have a positive impact on banking, technology services and telecommunications by 2022, the report said. Financial institutions are willing to lend more, thereby increasing liquidity and kickstarting the cycle of innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, an aging population is negatively affecting the economy, leaving banks, automakers and the entertainment industry vulnerable.
This has raised major concerns among investors around the world, who look to Asia for dynamism and dynamism. In a poll conducted during Moody’s 2023 Global ESG Summit, 37% of participants voted for demographic changes such as population aging as the most important emerging issue affecting credit markets.
Governance and infrastructure can boost the demographic dividend of economies with growing working-age populations, the report said. It also promotes quality education and immigration to mitigate the effects of an aging population.
Asia’s elderly population is expected to reach nearly 923 million by mid-century, according to the Asian Development Bank. Rapidly changing demographics — notably rising life expectancy and falling birth rates — will largely shape the economic direction of developing Asia, the ADB found in a study. The encouraging demographics driving the region’s high economic growth could be reversed, the report said.
“Asia’s population is aging rapidly,” said Juzhong Zhuang, ADB’s deputy chief economist. “As the demographic dividend driving Asia’s rapid growth becomes a tax, the region must find innovative ways to sustain economic expansion and better support its growing population of older people.
