Kuala Lampur:The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) has published the 19th edition of the APO Productivity Databook, offering harmonized comparisons of economic growth and productivity across Asia from 1970 through 2024, with projections extending to 2035.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the 2026 edition provides insights into economic growth and labor productivity for 38 Asian economies, which include the 21 APO member economies and 17 nonmember economies, collectively termed Asia38. For APO member economies, the Databook indicates that the average annual growth in per-hour labor productivity slowed from 2.9 percent (2015-2019) to 2.5 percent (2019-2024), while total factor productivity growth remained constant at 1.0 percent during both periods.

The Databook, based on the APO Productivity Database 2026, compiles full productivity accounts for the APO21 and seven nonmember economies, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Brunei, China, the Maldives, Myanmar, and Saudi Arabia. These 28 economies are collectively referred to as Asia28. Notably, Saudi Arabia is included in the full accounts for the first time, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are newly covered in broader labor productivity metrics.

Revisions to official national accounts and related statistics released up to May 2026 are incorporated into the 2026 edition, alongside quality-adjusted labor input estimates from the Asia Quality-adjusted Labor Input Database 2026 and stock estimates of land and mineral and energy resources from the Asia Natural Resources Database 2026.

The Databook reports that Asia38's GDP reached US$40.3 trillion in 2024, 37 percent larger than that of the United States. Asia38's real GDP grew by an average of 3.8 percent per year from 2019 to 2024, with China and India contributing 1.8 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively.

Several Asia28 economies demonstrated robust productivity growth recently, with per-hour labor productivity increasing by 3.7 percent annually from 2019 to 2024. China recorded the highest growth rate at 5.8 percent, followed by Vietnam at 4.5 percent, India at 4.4 percent, and Bangladesh at 3.9 percent.

The Databook also highlights that capital was the primary driver of Asia28's economic growth, accounting for 57 percent of growth over the 2000-2024 period. Provisional estimates reveal that Asia38 accounted for 50 percent of global final energy consumption and 60 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion in 2024.