This aerial photo shows flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, a few days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam.
Xuan Quang | Afp | Getty Images
Curtis S. Chin, former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of the consulting firm RiverPeak Group. Jose B. Collazo is an analyst focused on the Indo-Pacific region. They followed X at @CurtisSChin and @JoseBCollazo.
As with the previous year, 2024 seems to offer little to celebrate for many across the vast Indo-Pacific region. Amidst uncertain economies and ongoing geographic tensions, however, there was still hope and happiness to be found.
Who was bad and who was good in Asia and the Pacific in 2024?
As the sector looks to the return of President Donald Trump to the White House in 2025 and the tumultuous year of the snake in the lunar calendar, we take a look at the year that was.
The worst year: Asia's climate casualties
In a region known for natural disasters that make global headlines, in 2024 thousands of “climate casualties” have been added across Asia..
Unlike 20 years ago, when the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004 killed more than 200,000 people, 2024 was a year of increasing casualties from typhoons, floods, heat waves and dryness.
In one example, Super Typhoon Yagi, one of the strongest storms to hit Southeast Asia in years, left a trail of death and destruction in November. From the Philippines through southern China and Vietnam, and to Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, the storm killed hundreds and destroyed communities and livelihoods.
Floods from the annual monsoon rains have left millions stranded and hundreds dead in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal, making this year one of the deadliest in recent memory. And, if it wasn't the highest rainfall, it was a drought with scorching temperatures that led to months of severe water shortages.
With extreme weather events seemingly more common and their victims all too often increasingly unnoticed and forgotten, the region's climate casualties are taking on the dubious reputation of Asia's Worst Year.
Bad year: East Asian babies
Where have all the children gone? In most of East Asia, grandparents and new baby boomers faced another tough year in 2024. Lower fertility rates were a major concern in all major economies , including in South Korea, China and Japan as well as Taiwan. and Hong Kong.
Fertility rates remained well below the level required for a stable population if they were not growing. The long-term economic consequences could be significant as countries struggle with shrinking workforces and aging populations.
Lower fertility rates were a major concern in all major economies, including South Korea, China and Japan as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Women throughout East Asia do not have many children. Changing gender roles, long working hours, the high cost of housing, education and childcare are all cited as some of the factors behind this demographic shift.
At the end of the year, South Korea was officially declared a “super-aged” society, a concept defined by the United Nations, as the proportion of citizens aged 65 or older is now ' make up 20% of their population, according to the Ministry of Korea. Interior and Security.
A mixed year: Democracy and governance in Asia
From India and Japan to South Korea and Indonesia, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka to Taiwan, elections dominated in 2024. At the end of the year, however, it has proved a mixed year not a- only for current politicians but for democracy itself.
The year began with Bangladesh's long-time leader and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina retaining power in an election blocked by the opposition, only to resign and flee the country after weeks of student protests after the elections.
Soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building in Seoul on December 4, 2024, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law.
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images
Infamously, the year ends with South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol declaring martial law eight months after his party suffered a heavy defeat in general elections, only to see it win the National Assembly moving both to uphold martial law and to abolish it. The position of the president is now sitting with the Constitutional Court.
However, elections confirmed a vibrant democracy in Taiwan, he forced India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rule by coalition, surprised Pakistan's ruler, and said in a peaceful transfer of presidential power in Indonesia to former General Prabowo Subianto. Mixed, mixed democratic trajectories for Asia's democracies pointed to 2024.
Happy New Year: The Korean Wave
K is for Korean. Whether you're listening to K-pop music, streaming K-drama, trying out the latest K-beauty product from Sulwhasoo, or picking up Korean fried chicken or other K-food, you've embraced “Hallyu” – South Korean Wave of popular cultural exports. 2024 was a good year for this growing wave of business that has grown far beyond the superstar music groups BTS and Blackpink.
South Korean author Han Kang won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt | Episode | Getty Images
According to a recent count, more than 300 Korean movies and series are available on Netflix alone, including “Squid Game,” Season 2. “Queen of Tears”, a romantic drama starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, was a global sensation in 2024, clocking 690 million hours on Netflix. And say hello to K-literature, after author Han Kang in 2024 became the first Korean woman and the first Asian woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature.
This tsunami of soft diplomacy that has boosted South Korea's global presence is also big business. The global economic benefit to Korea of ”Hallyu”. now expected to reach $198 billion by 2030according to a BusinessKorea report on a white paper published by TikTok and market research firm Kantar.
Best year: Moo Deng, Thailand's viral sensation
To say that the pygmy hippopotamus baby female named Moo Deng – Thai for “bouncy pig” – took the world by storm in 2024 would be an understatement.
PATTAYA, THAILAND – NOVEMBER 26: Moo Deng is seen in her enclosure at Khao Kheow Open Zoo on November 26, 2024 in Chonburi, Thailand.
Matt Jelonek | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Born this July at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, the “hyper-viral” baby pygmy has seen her memes, photos and videos go global.
Fan accounts on X, TikTok, and Facebook continue to grow. And even NBC's American comedy show “Saturday Night Live” got in on the Moo Deng mania. Asian American star Bowen Yang impersonated the baby hippo on the show's “Weekend Update” segment, lamenting the dangers of instant fame.
Adding to her fame, Moo Deng correctly predicted the winner of the 2024 US presidential race, by choosing the fruit and vegetable plate with the name Trump over the name of the rival Kamala Harris.
2024 may be the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar, but it was also clearly the Year of the Hippo in the hearts and minds of Moo Deng's followers in Asia and beyond. For bringing some hope and joy to a region and a world that could use a lot more cheer, the “Best Year in Asia” designation for 2024 goes to Moo Deng.
Here's to an optimistic 2025 full of joy.
