World Bank Data ( East Asia and Pacific )

REGIONAL FACT SHEET FROM THE WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS 2007
East Asia and Pacific
East Asia and the Pacific well on the path to the Millennium Development Goals
East Asia and the Pacific, which comprises 30 percent of the world’s population, has recorded the largest reductions in poverty since
1981. It has exceeded the MDG target of cutting poverty in half by 2015. The region has, on average, also achieved the MDG targets
of universal primary education, with a completion rate of 98 percent, as well as gender equality in access to primary and secondary
education. In health, the fertility rate is at replacement level, almost 90 percent of pregnant women receive antenatal care, and 87 percent
of the births are attended to by skilled health staff. Infant and under-5 mortality are among the lowest of all developing regions.
But problems remain. Preliminary estimates suggest that almost 170 million people live on less than $1/day, over 75 percent of
them in China. For most countries, achieving a two-thirds reduction in child mortality will be difficult. And this is made more difficult
by pervasive inequalities in countries: survey data for seven countries show that, on average, under-5 mortality is 88 per 1,000 among the
poorest fifth of the population, compared with just 31 among the richest fifth. As of 2004, half the population lacked access to improved
sanitation facilities, and prevalence of HIV/AIDS among women increased from 24 percent in 2003 to 27 percent in 2005 .

Growth remained strong
East Asia and the Pacific, which has grown at an average
rate of about 8 percent a year for the past two decades, was once
again the top performer among developing regions in 2004.
China achieved a growth rate of 10.1 percent, while Malaysia,
Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia exceeded 6
percent growth. Export growth in these countries was particularly
strong, ranging from 10 to 28 percent in 2004।

Cereal yield is approaching that of high income economies
Global demand for food is projected to double in the next 50 years,
as urbanization proceeds and income rises. However, arable land per
capita is shrinking. Growing demand for food has been met by agricultural
intensification. Cereal yields have increased in most developing regions,
with East Asia realizing the highest cereal yield in developing regions.
In the 2003-05 period the region produced 4460 kilograms per hectare,
higher than the average yield in high-income economies in 1990-92, and
more than 4 times that of Sub-Saharan Africa।


Business reform--big improvements in China, Indonesia, and India
The fewer obstacles there are to starting a business, the more businesses will
be created in the formal sector. Firms that go from the informal sector to the
formal sector pay taxes and grow faster. Between 2004 and 2006 both China
and India cut business start-up time to 35 days. And Indonesia shortened
the time to register a business from 151 days to 97 days. During the same
period, China also reduced the cost and minimum capital requirements for
starting a business।


Malaysia leads East Asia and the Pacific in mobile phone
subscribers per capita
The use of mobile phones has been growing rapidly in East Asia & Pacific
countries, and in most of these countries, more people have access to
mobile phones than fixed line phones. In Malaysia, there are almost 800
mobile phone subscribers out of every 1,000 people. Since 2000, access
to mobiles has increased by about 10 times in Thailand and by about 5
times in China and the Philippines।

East Asia and Pacific: led in growth of trade
The nominal value of world merchandise trade in 2005 rose by 13 per
cent to $21.1 trillion or 47 percent of global output. Merchandise trade
by developing countries – especially exports -- has grown significantly
faster than for high-income countries, continuing the trend since 1990.
As a result, developing economies have gained market share. The East
Asia and Pacific region has been the leader and has continued to benefit
from rapidly expanding trade. In 2005, the region’s merchandise trade
rose to 75 percent of GDP, up from 47 percent in 1990.