ABSTRACT
The total population of Southeast Asia in 2010 was 593 million, give or take as many as 10 million.1 The population had doubled in the 38 years since 1972, and had increased by 48 per cent over the quarter-century since 1985. This chapter will first touch briefly on the longer historical context of this growth, and proceed to examine the components of recent population growth, assess some explanations for what has happened and look into the future to see how the population is likely to evolve over the coming decades. All nations of Southeast Asia except Timor-Leste are nowmembers of ASEAN. Therefore 99.8 per cent of Southeast Asia’s population lives in ASEAN countries, and in dealing with the population of Southeast Asia, the chapter will be dealing as well with the population of ASEAN.
