ABSTRACT
As the previous chapters have highlighted, there is significant variance in development achievements between ASEAN countries. There is a very significant income gap between the richest and poorest ASEAN countries but less stark human development gaps between some of the ASEAN-6 (i.e. the Philippines and Indonesia) and the CLMV countries. Between 2000 and 2011 the human development gap between the ASEAN-6 and the CLMV decreased by 13 per cent, but the income gap increased by 10 per cent during the same period. The analysis in this book suggests it will take between 15 and 19 years for the CLMV to reach the average ASEAN-6 human development achievement based on progress so far, however, for the methodological reasons outlined in Chapter Two this is in all probability an under-estimate. The gaps in income will take longer to converge, for example it will take between 28 and 44 years for the CLMV countries to reach the average ASEAN-6 income at current rates of growth. This calls for more concerted efforts on behalf of ASEAN and donors to the region to institute policies and programs that can narrow these gaps more expeditiously.
