If Asia wants to remain the world's growth center, it needs to invest more in education and skill training for its human capital, said Mahani Zainal Abidin, director general of Malaysia's Institute of Strategic and International Studies.
Asia's strategy of relying on labor-intensive manufacturing industries to drive its growth will no longer be sustainable as the region faces changing demographic trends, Mahani told the March 24 symposium.
Mahani noted how countries in Asia, which today has 3.4 billion people, or 57 percent of the global population, are seeing diverse demographic trends. While some countries face a population explosion, others — notably Japan and South Korea — have falling birthrates and rapidly aging societies, she said.