Living standards in Southeast Asia: changes over the long twentieth century, 1900–2015

Abstract

In Living Standards in Southeast Asia Anne Booth gives a comprehensive overview of the di ff erent types of measuresthat have been used to sketch trends in average income, development and poverty in the ten countries that are now members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Booth critically assesses both the underlying data and methodologies on which various indicators of development and living standards are based. The breadth of measures discussed is impressive and includes Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Human Development Index (HDI), Gini-index, poverty rates, literacy rates, educational enrolment, life expectancy, mortality and infant mortality rates, among others. The main aim is to see to what extent living standards (as measured by those various indicators) have improved in South East Asia in the long term, and what factors can explain the divergent patterns within