Asian Tigers

• Locations & Characteristics - Hong Kong:

  • Population - 7.2 million.
  • GDP per capita - $60,000 (2021)
  • HDI - 0.952 (2021)
• Locations & Characteristics - Singapore:

  • Population - 5.9 million.
  • GDP per capita - $106,000 (2021)
  • HDI - 0.939 (2021)
• Locations & Characteristics - South Korea:

  • Population - 51.9 million.
  • GDP per capita - $44,000 (2021)
  • HDI - 0.925 (2021)
• Locations & Characteristics - Taiwan:

  • Population - 23.5 million.
  • GDP per capita - $47,800 (2021)
  • HDI - 0.916 (2021)
• Timeline of Economic Development - 1940s:

  • In 1945 there was a lack of natural resources and minimal farmland.
  • Overpopulated, poor and could not feed their own populations.
  • Low capital resources for development.
  • Due to this their global counterparts had a strong incentive to find other exports for food and other essential imports.
• Timeline of Economic Development - 1950s:

  • They began to build cheap export manufactures using the same low-wage labour that could undersell First World Products.
  • Began in the Textile Industry as it required little capital investment and a large number of low-skilled workers willing to work long hours.
• Timeline of Economic Development - 1960s:

  • The Asian Tigers competitively captured the export market and undersold Japanese-made textiles.
  • Replaced Japan as the low-wage, low-cost producers of the global economy.
• Timeline of Economic Development - 1970s:

  • Had accumulated sufficient capital to move into the next phase of capital-intensive development.
  • Now they could produce radios, televisions, sewing machines and motorcycles cheaper than Japanese competitors.
  • By 1976, the Asian Tigers produced 60% of the Third World's manufactured exports, with only 3% of its population.
• Timeline of Economic Development - 1980s:

  • By the mid-1980s, the US and Europe could no longer sell manufactured goods to East Asia and entered into a reverse of the traditional neocolonialist relationship.
  • The West was exporting food and raw materials to East Asia and buying their manufactured goods.