The region has seen tremendous economic and social progress over the last 50 years, However, this conceals increasing risks to achieving the 2030 Agenda. Despite progress on many fronts, the region is not on track to meet many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The gains from economic growth are not being shared by all. Available jobs do not fully translate into decent work. The region is home to five of the world's 10 countries most affected by climate risks. Against such a backdrop, bold and wise policies are needed to maintain growth momentum while enhancing the drivers of sustainable development. The Survey explores the critical role of investment for SDG requirements.
Economic policymaking in Asia-Pacific developing countries has, understandably, long been focused on maximising economic growth, given the imperatives of poverty reduction and job creation. There is no gainsaying that there is a strong case for focusing on economic growth but when this comes at costs that undermine the sustainability of growth itself over the long term, it is time to ask questions. This is evident in the Asia-Pacific region, where decades of high growth have transformed the socioeconomic landscape - lifting a billion people out of extreme poverty and raising living standards of even greater numbers. However, such growth has been accompanied by growing inequality of income and opportunity and is beginning to breach planetary limits, endangering the well-being of future generations. Indeed, according to the ESCAP 2019 report on SDG progress, the Asia-Pacific region is not on track to achieve any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 if we continue on our business-as-usual pathway, and the region has either stagnated or regressed in several environmental Goals. The largest regression is in Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12) and this calls for a rethink of the economic growth-centric development model. The 2020 Survey proposes a transition towards sustainable consumption and production, given consumption and production's fundamental role in economic activities and its broad link with social and environmental well-being. Such a transition calls for all stakeholders, namely governments, businesses and consumers, to urgently align their own goals with social and planetary goals through internalizing externalities linked to their actions. The 2020 Survey identifies the constraints that different stakeholders face and provides a holistic policy package to power through the challenges.
The Survey 2015 assesses the region's outlook as it navigates through global uncertainties, providing policy options and strategies to sustain inclusive and sustainable growth. The report analyses a wide range of areas including economic growth, inflation, trade and investment, financial markets, inequality, employment, and environmental concerns. The special theme of Survey 2015 argues that although rapid economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region has been accompanied by significant declines in poverty rates, development is about more than growth and poverty. The report reviews trends and patterns of inclusive growth in the region and motivates why both the private and public sectors should do more to address existing inequalities. This edition comes in two parts, which will not be sold separately.
The annual Survey provides an extensive annual review of current economic & social trends within the Asian region & analyzes these developments against the background of events in the world economy. This publication is invaluable to every multinational corporation intending to expand their business in Asia or to invest in the region.
Most Asian and Pacific economies showed surprising strength in 2002, despitecontinued weaknesses in the world economy. Surging intraregional trade, combined with fiscal stimulus and monetary easing, lifted regional production by approximately 5 percent, 2 points higher than the 2001 rate, and more than 3 points higher than the expansion of global output in 2002. This has raised hopes that the region would experience a modest uplift in economic growth in 2003. Still, the rate of economic expansion was several percentage points below that which prevailed before the crisis of 1997-1998, resulting in lower levels of job creation and new pressures on government budgets, including fiscal allocations for basic social services and poverty reduction.This edition of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific includes an in-depth look at the efforts of the public sector in education and health, in particular to reach women, the poor, people living in rural and remote areas and others to whom greater attention must be paid. Given the large resources required for this, the responsibility for funding cannot be that of the public sector alone but as the Survey indicates, channels that involve civil society and the private sector have to be tapped.The Survey also focuses on environmental degradation, which often accompanies rapid economic growth and adversely affects the lives of the poor in a disproportionate manner. In recognition of these tensions, the Survey examines the links between the environment and poverty as well as the policy options available for improving the environment while reducing poverty. It recommends actions that will help to ensure property rights for the poor, improve access to affordable, environmentally clean technologies and reduce vulnerability to natural disasters through better disaster-management planning.
