ABSTRACT
The chapter presents a concise review of Asia’s political demography. It notes the effects on governance of the overall population size and demographic make-up of countries in the region and discusses demographic aspects of national security. It examines how the huge range of population sizes and the disparate stages of population ageing and economic development affect international relationships within Asia’s society of states, both in the routine management of formal and informal ties and in periods of tension or actual conflict. It notes the many uncertainties pertaining to demography in a future in which for the first time in centuries Asia’s relevant great powers will be Asian alone, but in which the population-security nexus both within and among countries may still be affected by other long-standing sources of conflict as well as by exogenous trends and events, not least major shifts in environmental conditions.
