India and Associatio- n of South East Asian Nations (Asean) countries are the future markets for American and European countries. The sheer size of the regions population is an indication that it will be at the centre stage of economic activity.
The EIU report Asia Investment Strategies : Business Planning states that about 25.2 per cent of the world population resides in these countries. India accounts for 17 per cent of worlds population and every sixth person in the world is an Indian.
Major East Asian countries with their share of world population are: Indonesia 3.5 per cent, Vietnam 1.3 per cent, the Philippines 1.2 per cent, Thailand 1.1 per cent and South Korea 0.8 per cent.
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China, which is a huge market has opened its doors to foreign investors in a discretionary manner.
Indias population is estimated to rise from 973.5 million in 1997 to 1053.8 million in 2001. The labour force is expected to rise from 93.2 million in 1997 to 105.9 million in 2001. However, labour force as a percentage of population is expected to stay at 38.7 per cent.
In the region, Singapore has the lowest population of 3.1 million, of which nearly 61.3 per cent is part of the labour force.
Among the eight countries, the labour cost per hour is highest in Singapore at $8.2 and lowest in Philippines at $0.7.
In 1997, the private consumption per head is the lowest at $220 in India and Vietnam, which may rise to $310 in 2001. Singapore is estimated to have the highest private consumption per head at $13230 in 1997 which may rise to $16610. It is not surprising that the rich South nations are understandably worried over the economic imponderables such as weak currencies and slowdown plaguing most countries in this part of the world. Even Japan, the Asian role model of capitalism is not trouble-free.