Central Asia's Ripe Demographics Form A Key Geopolitical Node


(MENAFN- Asia Times) A tectonic shift is underway in Western Asia. The region's leading Muslim powers of the moment, Turkey and Iran, will lose 30% to 40% of their working-age population during the 21st century due to plunging fertility.

Meanwhile, the Central Asian republics-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan-will dwarf Iran and Turkey in sheer population size.

Another Turkic country, Azerbaijan, is included with the five Central Asian countries in the chart below. Except for the Tajiks, who speak a dialect of Persian, the rest of Central Asia is Turkic.


Central Asia

Graphic: Asia Times

A great deal has been written about declining birth rates and their consequences for the world economy, but relatively little about the pockets of population growth in investible regions.

Most of the world's population growth this century will occur in Africa, which has challenges in raising an educated workforce. Pakistan is also growing, but with 50% functional illiteracy and political instability, its economic potential is limited.

That makes Central Asia's growing population of considerable interest to China, which needs to export capital to countries with younger populations. It also offers a market with long-term growth potential for Europe.

Germany, with its 3 million resident Turks, is looking East for markets. Hungary is the sole European member of the Organization of Turkic States, which held its annual summit meeting this week in Kyrgyzstan.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban was awarded the Supreme Order of the Turkic World , the organization's highest honor.“We are the westernmost people of the East,” the Hungarian prime minister commented.

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Asia Times

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