Fewer working Asians will hit growth worldwide: Moody's

Trouble ahead for six Asian nations without better productivity gains, workforce participation

- Rhik Kundu

Six major Asian economies, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, which comprise one-fifth of the world’s population, will experience rapid decline in their working-age populations that is expected to drop about 10 percentage points by 2050 to 59% of their total populations on average, leading to major impact on global economic growth, Moody’s Investors Services said in a report on Wednesday.

The drag on growth and public finances for these economies will be significant, barring gains in productivity, workforce participation or quality of available labour, said the report titled "Aging in key economies will drag on growth and finances, with global credit implications".

Given the role of several of these economies in driving international savings, Asia’s demographics as a result will also have global implications for interest rates and inflation, it added.