Peter Zeihan || Demographics Part 8: Optimism for Southeast Asia

The demographic outlook of Southeast Asia is one of the best in the world. It's one thing to have a single country with solid demographics but put all of Southeast Asia together, and the region's strength amplifies.

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#southeastasia #demographic #geopolitics

[sixacsix]

Watching your videos since JRE. I feel like I'm getting smarter, but also way more annoying at dinner parties.

[kicokyaw]

i highly respect Peter Zeihan's views and opinions, and he is right that naturally and demographically South East Asia has everything going for it. In fact most of SEA is expected to do great like Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. However, the other nations have huge internal political issues that they can't really do anything economically productive. Extreme example is Myanmar (which I'm from) is in the middle of a mid intensity civil war and is economically collapsing because of it. So if all SEA nations had stable politics, yes easily great. But for some nations, SEA politics is as looney tunes as there can be.

[michaelmcgarrity]

This makes sense to me.
Vietnam Median Age 31, birth rate 1.96. I've had very close Vietnamese friends. Awesome People.
Hard working, well educated and a great sense of humor.

[biztosdotcom]

Thailand has the advantage that for all its problems, three countries on its borders are super messed up economically and politically, so the labor force is guaranteed for a long time even if the birth rate doesn’t improve.

[markmelvin]

Glad you're so optimistic about this region Peter. I live in Penang, Malaysia and one of my friends runs an electronics factory here on the island but also has another nearby. It was his choice of location and could have been anywhere in the region. He chose Thailand because of the availability of labour in quantity. That's a big issue in Malaysia. As for demographics, its not so cut and dried as you say because of the different ethnic nationalities in the country. Very big difference between them. That aside as a retired economist, your work on demographics is really great. To the wider world, the prospect of long drawn out events happening years ahead is beyond comprehension so demographics is usually ignored sadly. It is I think the most important determinant of long term growth and fortune for any country. Love the work, please keep it coming. And if you could do something specific to the UK's issues at present, that would be great. Cheers and happy hiking.

[genkimachina]

I currently live in Vietnam (I am American) and I enjoy it thoroughly. It seems like things are moving up outside of poor city planning.

[riarebolledo]

From the PH here. STEM education is a problem here, though we are competent in other skills. We do speak better English here than most of our neighbors. Cheap labor has always been the main export of our country, kept the country afloat throughout the financial crises from previous decades. And though we are deeply Christianized, politics affect us in ways that often transcend our Christian values. The country has great potential, but we don't have the political leadership to capitalize on these potentials now. Yet.

[TheRealAsahi]

Having lived many years in Malaysia, Singapore and Bangkok briefly, I absolutely agree with you. Bangkok by the way has the largest Japanese expat community in the world. Many Japanese companies have manufacturing plants in Thailand.

[instructorkai]

Spot on! This is the reason why the government of Taiwan came up with the "New Southbound Policy, " enacted on the 5th of September, 2016. They noticed that there was and still is a huge demographic disparity between Northeast and Southeast Asia and that they would have to invest resources in a whole-of-government way in order to strengthen the connections between it and the more demographically blessed southeast part of Asia.

[Nick-bhbk]

Peter, can you do a review of the Philippines?

[chriscardwell]

Peter - you are surprisingly cheerful today - overflowing with good news 🙂

[robdeveyra]

I didn’t hear Peter talk about the Philippines

[RoodeMenon]

I worked in Malaysia and Thailand for a couple of years (2012-2019) and I had the time of my life.

[JoelMBarr-hhvs]

Ojai is gorgeous!! Really that whole central coast is incredible. 70 degrees nearly every day in the winter, and capped summer heat. Glorious.

[charlesreeder]

You didn't mention the Philippines. What is your outlook for the Philippines?

[esparda]

For all the complications of Geopolitics, this is extremely simple to follow. Prime population, proximity, diversity of skills.

[mrbonanza]

what is your opinion in the Philippines? The people are fairly skilled as many of them went and worked abroad and their demography is strong. Lots of natural resources to make use of too. I am no expert but I think it will be a nation to watch.

[gringoviejo]

Indonesia also has great mineral resources - especially nickel - and the blessing of straddling the equator, giving it great potential as a space launch venue or, in the more distant future - if technology ever gets there, the ground station for a space elevator.

[Velnias]

Hey Peter, loved your books. Could you expand a bit on baltics and poland demographics future, because you mentioned that they are in a different situation from eastern and western europe

[michaelfallesen]

Love your channel. Curious as to why you omitted comment about the Philippines?