Southeast Asia Is Worth a Look

Looking to the future: Singapore is considered a tech-savvy city-state. By the end of the decade, it wants to be a fully digitalized “smart nation.” 
© AdobeStock/Jo Panuwat D

Its significance merely from a statistical standpoint sometimes falls off the radar. About 9 percent of the world’s population lives in Southeast Asia – 670 million people. Its economies have grown by an average of 5 percent annually over the past two decades. There are 10 countries in the region, and nearly every one of them is home to a relatively young, striving, and digitally savvy population. In the six countries with the largest economies, 68 percent of the population is of working age. Nearly all the countries are seeing continued strong expansions of their middle classes, which have special consumer interests, improved access to education, and an optimistic entrepreneurial spirit.

Southeast Asia is a region worth focusing on. Companies are giving it more attention. They are coming to the realization that the region is diverse, distinct, and full of contrasts. With its 275 million people, Indonesia ranks as the world’s fourth-largest country by population, putting it in sharp contrast with the region’s smaller states like Brunei (400,000 inhabitants) or Singapore (5 million). The latter two countries happen to be the most prosperous in the region. Singapore is a technology-savvy state that has surpassed many European nations in digitalization. Its educated populace earns a median income of about US $4,800 per month, compared to the minimum wage of US $90 per month in Laos. The polar opposites of wealth and poverty extend into individual countries, where the urban middle-class in metropolises like Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila live modern lives seemingly light years away from those of rice farmers, crab fishermen and wage laborers beyond the major cities.