ABSTRACT
The economic and leadership importance of South Asia is rising as the centre of global economy is shifting towards Asia from the west. This growing importance provides an opportune crossroads for South Asia to meet the challenges of poverty, peace and environmental degradation that is facing its region and the world, and increase its economic and political standing in the global economy. For its economic standing, economic integration is of the utmost importance, as it will enable South Asia to rival China economically and it will account for one of the largest trading blocks in the world. South Asia is made up of eight nations, along with seven South Asian Association Regional
Co-operation (SAARC) states and Afghanistan. Recent evidence indicates that South Asia has shown strong growth over the past decade. In Table 18.1, it is clear that India is leading the growth by doubling its GDP from US$478 billion in 2001 to nearly US$911.2 in 2006. However, South Asia is the home to over one-fifth of the global population living in an area half the size of China. It has the largest concentration of the world’s poor in absolute terms. In 2004 there were an estimated 445.6 million who lived below US$1 a day and 1,115.3 million people who lived below US$2 a day, which comprised nearly 30.8 per cent and 77.1 per cent of the total population respectively (see Table 18.2). The incidence of poverty is much higher in South Asia compared with East Asia and the
Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean. Given its sheer size South Asia could play an important role in poverty reduction. The number of people who live on less than US$1 a day declined between 1999 and 2004, suggesting some poverty alleviation (Table 18.2). Despite high growth for the past decade in some South Asian countries, the prevalence of poverty indicates the extent of income inequality in the region. Its health conditions are also quite diverse with, for example, one of the highest proportions of underweight children in the world. In terms of education, Pakistan has one of the lowest primary school enrolment ratios in the whole of Asia Pacific region. In Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan the enrolment in secondary schools is low compared with primary school enrolment (Table 18.3). Despite positive steps being taken for widespread primary education and targeted programmes for secondary education in South Asia, there exists wide gaps across countries in enrolment ratios between females and males.
