ABSTRACT
Growth patterns are much more varied – the spectacular growth of East Asia and south-east Asia came after 1974 and lasted until 1998. For much of the history of the world, Asia – with much of the world’s population – has been the heart of world civilisation, marked by the three great cultural complexes of East Asia, south Asia, and west Asia. However, Asia is also the home to the largest concentration of poor people in the world, in that great band across central India to Bangladesh. Asia is still very rural – indeed, more than three fifths of the world’s country folk live. Half the world’s cities of one million or less population are in Asia, and one third of India’s urban population lives in cities with 100,000 people or fewer. The issue is going to grow as the advanced world, closely followed by the Newly Industrialising Countries, South East Asia and China, ages.
