This aerial image exhibits flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, a couple of days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam.
Xuan Quang | Afp | Getty Images
Curtis S. Chin, a former U.S. ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of advisory agency RiverPeak Group. Jose B. Collazo is an analyst specializing in the Indo-Pacific area. Follow them on X at @CurtisSChin and @JoseBCollazo.
Like the yr earlier than, 2024 seemingly supplied up little to have a good time for a lot of throughout the huge Indo-Pacific area. Amid unsure economies and enduring geographic tensions, nevertheless, there was nonetheless hope and pleasure to be discovered.
Who had it dangerous and who had it good in Asia and the Pacific area in 2024?
As the area appears to be like to the return of President Donald Trump to the White House in 2025 and to what may nicely be a tumultuous Year of the Snake within the lunar calendar, we check out the yr that was.
Worst yr: Asia’s local weather casualties
In a area well-known for pure disasters that make world headlines, 2024 noticed the addition of hundreds of “local weather casualties” throughout Asia.
Unlike 20 years in the past, when the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004 killed greater than 200,000 individuals, 2024 was a yr of mounting casualties from typhoons, floods, warmth waves and droughts.
In one instance, Super Typhoon Yagi, one of many strongest storms to hit Southeast Asia in years, left a path of dying and devastation in November. From the Philippines by way of southern China and Vietnam, and onto Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, the storm killed lots of and devastated communities and livelihoods.
Floods from the yearly monsoon rains additionally left tens of millions stranded and lots of useless in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Nepal, making this yr one of many deadliest in current reminiscence. And, if it was not record-breaking rainfall, it was drought accompanied by scorching temperatures resulting in months of extreme water shortages.
With excessive climate occasions seemingly extra the norm and their victims too typically more and more unnoticed and forgotten, the area’s local weather casualties garner the doubtful distinction of Worst Year in Asia.
Bad yr: East Asia’s infants
Where have all of the infants gone? In most of East Asia, aspiring grandparents and different followers of latest born infants confronted one other powerful yr in 2024. Record-low fertility charges continued to show a significant concern in all main economies, together with in South Korea, China and Japan in addition to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Fertility charges remained nicely beneath the wanted stage for a steady if not rising inhabitants. The long-term financial penalties might nicely be vital as nations take care of shrinking workforces and getting older populations.
Record-low fertility charges continued to show a significant concern in all main economies, together with in South Korea, China and Japan in addition to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Women throughout East Asia are having few to no kids. Changing gender roles, lengthy work hours, the excessive price of housing, training and childcare are all cited as a few of the components behind this demographic pattern.
At year-end, South Korea was additionally formally declared a “super-aged” society, an idea outlined by the United Nations, because the proportion of residents aged 65 or older now accounts for 20% of its inhabitants, based on Korea’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
Mixed yr: Democracy and incumbency in Asia
From India and Japan to South Korea and Indonesia, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka to Taiwan, elections dominated 2024. At yr’s finish, nevertheless, it has confirmed a decidedly combined yr for not simply incumbent politicians however for democracy itself.
The yr started with Bangladesh’s long-time chief and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina retaining energy in an election boycotted by the opposition, solely to resign and flee the nation after weeks of pupil protests following the elections.
Soldiers attempt to enter the National Assembly constructing in Seoul on December 4 2024, after South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial regulation.
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images
Infamously, the yr ends with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-Yeol declaring martial regulation eight months after his celebration misplaced large usually elections, solely to see the National Assembly efficiently transfer each to drive the lifting of martial regulation and to question him. The president’s destiny now sits with the Constitutional Court.
Yet, elections cemented a vibrant democracy in Taiwan, compelled India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to manipulate with a coalition, shocked the Pakistan incumbent, and heralded within the peaceable transition of presidential energy in Indonesia to former General Prabowo Subianto. Diverse, combined democratic trajectories for Asia’s democracies characterised 2024.
Good yr: The Korean wave
Ok is for Korean. Whether you are listening to Ok-pop music, streaming a Ok-drama, making an attempt out the most recent Ok-beauty product from Sulwhasoo, or choosing up Korean fried hen or different Ok-food, you’ve got succumbed to “Hallyu” — South Korea’s wave of wildly in style cultural exports. 2024 proved a great yr for this increasing wave of enterprise that has grown nicely past celebrity musical teams BTS and Blackpink.
South Korean writer Han Kang received the Nobel Prize in Literature 2024.
Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt | Afp | Getty Images
According to a current depend, greater than 300 Korean films and sequence can be found on Netflix alone, together with “Squid Game,” Season 2. “Queen of Tears,” a romantic drama starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, was a 2024 world sensation, clocking 690 million viewing hours on Netflix. And say howdy to Ok-literature, following Korean writer Han Kang in 2024 turning into the primary Korean and first Asian lady to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
This tsunami of sentimental diplomacy that has elevated South Korea’s world presence can be large enterprise. The world financial profit to Korea of “Hallyu” is now projected to hit $198 billion by 2030, based on a EnterpriseKorea report on a white paper launched by TikTook and market analysis agency Kantar.
Best yr: Moo Deng, Thailand’s viral sensation
To say that the feminine child pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng — Thai for “bouncy pork” — took the world by storm in 2024 could be an understatement.
PATTAYA, THAILAND – NOVEMBER 26: Moo Deng is seen in her enclosure on the Khao Kheow Open Zoo on November 26, 2024 in Chonburi, Thailand.
Matt Jelonek | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Born this July at Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo, the “hyper-viral” child pygmy has seen her memes, images and movies go world.
Fan accounts on X, TikTook, and Facebook proceed to proliferate. And even NBC’s long-running U.S. comedy present “Saturday Night Live” received in on the Moo Deng mania. Asian American star Bowen Yang impersonated the infant hippo on the present’s “Weekend Update” section, lamenting the hazards of on the spot fame.
Adding to her fame, Moo Deng accurately predicted the winner of the 2024 U.S. presidential race, by choosing the fruit and vegetable plate bearing Trump’s identify over that of rival Kamala Harris.
2024 may need been the Year of the Dragon within the lunar calendar, nevertheless it additionally was clearly the Year of the Hippo within the hearts and minds of Moo Deng followers in Asia and past. For bringing a little bit of hope and pleasure to a area and world that might use much more good cheer, the designation of “Best Year in Asia” for 2024 goes to Moo Deng.
Here’s to a hopeful and joy-filled 2025.
