Highlights of 2006 Population Data Sheet

The recently released 2006 ESCAP Population Data Sheet provides demographic and selected socio-economic development indicators for Asia and the Pacific. Published annually, the Data Sheet presents the most up-to-date indicators and utilizes the most recent national data collected from censuses, surveys, estimates and projections prepared by the Population Division of the United Nations and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The Data Sheet has been instrumental in profiling demographic trends and shifts in the size, growth and distribution of the population of the region and its socio-economic development.
According to the 2006 edition, the population of Asia and the Pacific stands at 3.9 billion and is projected to reach 4.7 billion by 2025. The population of the region has been growing at a decelerating rate. Over the past decade, the region’s population growth rate has dropped from 1.6 to 1.1 per cent per year. Similarly, the total fertility rate of the region stands at 2.3 children per woman, in contrast to the relatively high fertility rate of 2.9 children per woman a decade ago.
Declining fertility has engendered shifting population age structure and population ageing. Ageing has become a salient feature of the region’s demographic dynamics, with older persons (60 years and older) accounting for 10 per cent of the region’s population. A measure of population ageing, ageing index – the number of persons 60 years or older per 100 persons under age 15 – has been included in the Data Sheet for the first time. The region’s ageing index stands at 37.4, with Japan topping the index at 189.1. Hong Kong, China and the Russian Federation follow suit with 108.8 and 113.1, respectively, and Australia and Georgia are fast approaching the 100 mark. The Data Sheet also presents population by two broad age groups: 0-14 and 60 years and older.
In recognition of the primacy of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the development agenda, the Data Sheet presents data corresponding to more MDG indicators than published before. This would allow the Data Sheet to reflect progress made toward the achievement of the MDGs. The lately added indicators include: population below $1 (PPP) per day, maternal mortality ratio and secondary school enrolment ratio of females to males. Some of the other demographic and socio-economic development indicators presented include teenage fertility, life expectancy at birth, crude birth and death rates, infant mortality, mortality under age five, percentage urban, GDP per capita, prevalence of HIV/AIDS among adults aged 15 to 49 and net migration rate.
The diversity in the demographic profiles of countries as presented in the Data Sheet reflects, to a large extent, the underlying differences in socio-economic development at the country and subregion levels, and the priority countries have accorded to population issues and their integration in the overall development agenda.
Note: The Data Sheet can be obtained by writing to the Chief, Emerging Social Issues Division, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Building, Rajadamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. It can be accessed online at http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/data_sheet/index.asp