Population Programme IconOur population activities aim to assist Members and Associate Member achieve inclusive and sustainable development, through the analysis and monitoring of regional population dynamics to better inform decision-making and the formulation of population Policies; raising awareness of population dynamics and their implications for development; and enhancing the capacity of national planners and policy makers to integrate population factors into development planning, especially social and economic development strategies.
Our work in this area is guided by the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Plan of Action of the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference—the pursuit of both being viewed as essential to the alleviation of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Social Policy and Population Section publishes the Asia-Pacific Population Journal, with the aim of bringing the results of current population research to policy makers and programme managers.
Population programme basic fact sheet
  • The Asia Pacific region is home to seven of the world’s most populous countries with 4.1 billion people – more than 60 per cent of the world’s population.
  • China and India are the world’s most populous countries with 1.3 and 1.2 billion people, respectively. Together they account for 61 per cent of the region’s population and over one-third of the population of the world in 2008. Also among the world’s ten most populous countries are Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Russian Federation and Japan.
  • The Asia-Pacific region is demographically diverse. It has many of the world’s smallest countries or areas. In the Pacific, nine small-island developing States have populations of less than 100,000, including five with 20,000 or less people.
  • Total fertility rate (TFR), which is the number of children that a woman would bear in her lifetime if she followed current levels of fertility, has declined steadily and is significantly lower than the global average: in the decade between 1990-1995 and 2005-2010, it fell from 2.9 to 2.3 children per woman – a consequence of both government-supported reproductive health programmes and rapid economic and social growth.

population basic fact sheet

  • The region’s highest population growth rates are in Afghanistan and Timor-Leste at 3.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent in 2008, respectively. Both countries have high rates natural increase (births minus deaths) and have seen their overall growth rates boosted by the return of former refugees. Other countries currently experiencing population growth rates of 2.0 per cent or more are Macao, China, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
  • Since 1990, the region’s population has been growing more slowly than that of the rest of the world. Between 1990 and 1995 it grew 1.5 per cent annually but since then has steadily declined. In 2008, annual growth has fallen to 1.0 per cent – the lowest rate among the world’s developing regions.
  • Adolescent fertility rate, which is the average number of live births annually per 1,000 women aged 15-19 years, for the period 2005-2010 was 38.9. Afghanistan and Nepal had very high rates – more than 100 births – similar to the rate in the Africa region.
  • The Asia-Pacific region has relatively high life expectancy. Between 1990- 1995 and 2005- 2010, female life expectancy increased from 65.8 to 70.7 years and male life expectancy from 62.5 to 66.6 years. Both are higher than the global average.
  • In most countries, the populations are equally divided between males and females, but some countries have a lower proportion of women.
  • In several countries in South and South-West Asia, the female-to-male sex ratio, which is the number of females per 100 males, is considerably below 100. In most countries in North and Central Asia, however, it is above 100. The low sex ratios in South and South-West Asia result from either lower sex ratios at birth or from mortality rates that do not favour females. In North and Central Asia, the high sex ratios reflect higher female life expectancies.