ASEAN average per capita GDP more than triple that of China’s - Singapore emerges as regional financial centre
February 29th, 2008 - by Chris Devonshire-EllisAccording to statistics issued yesterday by the Japanese External Trade Organisation (Jetro) http://www.jetro.go.jp/, the combined per capita income of ASEAN countries Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam for 2007 was USD7,533, against just USD2,459 for China. This represents a rise from USD6,830 for 2006, an extraordinary increase for a diverse total population also larger than China’s at @1.6 billion people against 1.2 billion for the PRC.
This reflects the continuing growth rate and prosperity in the region, with major consequences for FDI throughout Asia. The regions diversity is also displayed, with tiny Brunei and Singapore leading the way in incomes, far beyond their Asian counterparts, over USD32,000 a head. At the opposite end of the scale however, Burma, Cambodia , Laos, Vietnam and India all recorded average per capita income of less than USD1000 per annum, although all showed significant growth rates as well. Of those closest to China’s level of GDP income, Thailand exceeded it and Indonesia was close behind China.
The demographics make interesting reading,with huge implications. Obviously, this is not just China’s century,it is an Asian century. The regions diversity will also assist in risk spread - some 11 countries (excluding China), one massive emerging economy and market (India) and relatively politically stable neighbouring countries. Singapore, now acting as the regions de facto financial centre, is becoming increasingly important as an investment hub, and especially so since it’s re-positioning as a quasi offshore banking centre a couple of years ago. Multinational operations based in Singapore but with regional interests can bring those profits back to Singapore tax free - a major incentive. Its risk spread financially is also impressive - while Hong Kong remains tethered to China, Singapores wings spread further and wider.
We’ll be examining the issues this brings to the table in more detail in further threads on the subject - but for now, based on those averages - you’ll earn more in ASEAN than you will in China.
Related Threads:
China Gives South-East Asias Poorest First Time Access To Consumer Goods
Corporate America’s China Plus One Strategy
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February 29th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
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February 29th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Jennifer Lancey
February 29th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Thank you Jennifer - and a happy weekend to all our readers - Chris
February 29th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I didn’t realise the ASEAN GDP was so high now…but with several booming economies all together it makes sense. Its like a ‘Super-China’. Interesting. Only parts of China are booming,the rural areas are quiet, and relatively poor. ASEAN has far more mature cities and more developing up and coming ones.
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
When did India become part of ASEAN? It is official?
I guess without India ASEAN’s GDP per capita would further surge ahead that of China’s as I assume India is just like China which has a booming middle class and the vast majority are poor.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:43 am
India like China is not a part of the ASEAN countries, nonetheless it is a full dialogue partner. It however is a part of ASEAN + 4, which includes China, Japan, Korea and India.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Pffeffer, for regional economic comparison purposes China and India are always included in ASEAN data by the research houses. Without them it doesn’t give the full picture.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Jesus H. Christ, I would have thought a lawyer would at least attempt some basic numeracy and use a dash of logic (then again, this flies in the face of all the lawyer jokes). The Jetro figure is so overly encompassing that it is absolutely useless. The problem with the average per capita GDP the Jetro goofballs report is that it incorporates Singapore and Brunei, two extremely wealthy mini-states, with much larger and poorer neighboring states and assigns them equal impact irrespective of population. This should have been self-evident at first glance.
This is the same as saying that the average per capita income of everyone in a bar Bill Gates walks into is suddenly in the millions. Technically true, but entirely unwise.
March 15th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Damn! Chris, you’re either pretty bad at math, or reading reports, or both.
ASEAN with a population of 566 million and GDP in PPP terms is 2.1 trillion, per capita gdp is $3700. For China, PPP GDP is 7 trillion with a pop of 1.3b, per capita gdp is 5300. These are the latest figures from CIA World factbook with the new PPP calculations. Same pattern if you go by the old PPP figures. If you are comparing per capita GDP in nominal terms, ASEAN also lags behind China by some 20%.
OH, BTW, India is not a member of ASEAN. If you throw India’s numbers in there, it will dilute the ASEAN’s per capita figure even more.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Timbo - we already pointed out India is not a member of ASEAN.
Jing - I realise the ASEAN figures include Brunei and Singapore. But China’s include Hong Kong & Shanghai. We’ve listed them as they are and expect our readers to be able to see the exceptions themselves. So which ones do you strip out ? That depends on what data you want to extract and for what specific purpose. Jetro do a good job, and if you want different perspectives on the statistics then you can strip out the data you don’t need and reach the conclusions you are looking for. Or you can hire them yourself with a full brief for your needs.
Either way, the data shows the China story is spilling over big time into neighbouring states. Collectively they are now a challenge to China. Make of that what you will, but I say it’s gives manufacturers and salesmen more options. - Chris
March 17th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
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