Conclusion

Beginning in the 1950s Japan turned itself from a war-ravaged poorhouse into the world’s second largest economy. South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore followed in Japan’s footsteps, reaching developed-nation status a decade or two later. Malaysia, too, has impressed, with GDP growing on average 6.5 per cent annually between 1958 and 2005. Most recently, China and, to a lesser extent, India, the world’s two most populous countries, have captured people’s imagination with their very high growth.