2024 Facts & Figures: ASIA & OCEANIA

INDIA has overtaken China as the world’s most populous nation—a title China held for three centuries. The Indian population is expected to peak at 1.7 billion people in 2064, when it will exceed China’s population by 50 percent. 

^{Source: India Briefing}

In 2023, Satoko Kishimoto (right) became the first female mayor in the history of Suginami, one of Tokyo’s 23 districts. JAPAN has the world’s third-largest economy (after the U.S. and China), but it ranks low when it comes to women’s participation in government.  A woman has never served as Japan’s prime minister, and only two women are part of the current cabinet. Kishimoto says the under-representation of women in Japanese politics is a national crisis. 

^{Source: BBC}

PERCENTAGE of households in AFGHANISTAN that don’t have enough food to feed their families. The country has been in crisis since the 2021 takeover by the Taliban. Afghan women and girls have fared the worst. They’ve lost their rights to work, go to school, and move about freely.  

^{Source: Human Rights Watch}

NUMBER of Rohingya refugees who live in the world’s largest and most densely populated refugee camp, Kutupalong, in southern Bangladesh. About half of the refugees, who fled genocide in neighboring Myanmar starting in 2017, are children.

^{Source: World Vision}

PERCENTAGE increase in TAIWAN’s military budget this year. The country also plans to extend its mandatory military service from four months to one year. The moves come as China has been increasingly threatening toward Taiwan, which it considers part of China. 

^{Source: TIME}