Economic and Social Survey of Asia
and the Pacific
The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific reviews
every year the economic performance of countries in the region.
In addition, each Survey contains a study on some region issue
affecting these economies.
Survey 2008 "Sustaining Growth and Sharing Prosperity"
This year’s Survey, entitled “Sustaining Growth and Sharing Prosperity,” says 218 million – a third of the region’s poor, largely living in rural areas – could be lifted out of poverty by raising agricultural productivity if governments address decades of policy neglect and failure in the agricultural sector. The Survey also calls for a comprehensive liberalization of global trade in agriculture, as this would take a further 48 million people out of poverty in the region.
This year’s issue marks the 60th anniversary of the Survey, first published in Shanghai in May 1948, which examines the most critical issues, challenges and risks in Asia and the Pacific in the months ahead, and explores critical long-term development issues relevant to all developing countries in the region.