GOLD Report I - UCLG

51I. IntroductionThe Asia-Pacific region comprises anenormous variety in the size of nationstates. This ranges from the two demographicgiants of the world, China and India,which together account for one-thirdof global population, to the many islandstates of the Pacific that have less than100,000 inhabitants. The region also displaysa great variety in living standards,ranging from the high-income OECDcountries of Australia, Japan, Republic ofKorea and New Zealand to a number ofthe least-developed countries of theworld, including Bangladesh and Nepal. Italso includes some of the currently fastestgrowing economies in the world,notably China, India and Vietnam, aswell as the country – Korea – that hasexperienced the most dramatic growth inliving standards in the world during theperiod 1950-2000.The Asia-Pacific region also embodies greatdiversity of historical experience. Manyof the countries incorporated colonialmodels of governance to a greater or lesserextent - British, in the case of Australia,New Zealand, India, Pakistan, SriLanka, Malaysia and some of the Pacificislands, French in the case of Vietnam,Cambodia and Laos (but largely supersededby communist models in these countries),Dutch in the case of Indonesia andUS in the case of the Philippines. Recentlaws in Pakistan also reflect US, Germanand Japanese influences. The single-partycommunist system adopted by China,Laos, North Korea and Vietnam owesmuch to the Marxist-Leninist ideology ofthe former Soviet Union.Table 1 Basic Development Indicators in the Asia-Pacific Region, 2004Country Population Density People % Urban GNP per HDI(millions) per sq. km Population* head (US$) RankingAustralia 20.1 3 88.2 26,900 3China 1,296.5 139 40.4 1,290 81India 1,079.7 363 28.7 620 126Indonesia 217.6 120 48.1 1,140 108Japan 127.8 351 65.8 37,180 7Malaysia 25.2 77 67.3 4,650 61New Zealand 4.1 15 86.2 20,310 20Pakistan 152.1 197 34.9 600 134Philippines 83.0 278 62.7 1,170 84Korea, Rep. of 48.1 488 80.8 13,980 26Thailand 62.4 122 32.3 2,540 74Vietnam 82.2 252 26.4 550 109Source: World Bank 2006; UNDESA 2006; UNDP 2006a.* Data is for 2005.