#CurtisChin inside a Compose Coffee shop in Myeong-dong, Seoul w/ #KimTaehyung ad. (©CurtisSChin photo on @X).
A year ago, on January 2, 2024, a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 and a plane operated by the Japan Coast Guard collided at Haneda Airport. Five of the six crew members on the Coast Guard plane were killed. Sadly, as the Year of the Dragon came to an end, on the cusp of 2025 there was news of another tragic, even more deadly air accident in Asia. The crash landing of a Jeju Air jetliner on December 29 at Muan International Airport in South Korea caused the deaths of nearly all 181 passengers and crew on board.
With horrific plane accidents bookending the year, we pause to share our condolences. We also take one last look at the year that was in the Indo-Pacific region. As we do so, we also look ahead to what we hope will be a better year.
As 2025 and the Year of the Snake arrive, here is our Asia Year in Review 2024.
Worst Year: Asia's Climate Casualties
Twenty years ago, a devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004, killed more than 200,000 in a single day. In contrast, 2024 was a year of mounting casualties from typhoons, floods, heat waves, and droughts.
This included Super Typhoon Yagi. One of the strongest storms to hit Southeast Asia in years, Yagi left a path of death and devastation in November. From the Philippines through southern China and Vietnam, and on to Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, the storm killed hundreds and devastated communities and livelihoods.
Floods from the yearly monsoon rains also left millions displaced and hundreds dead in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. They made 2024 one of the deadliest years in recent memory. And, if it was not record-breaking rainfall, it was drought accompanied by scorching temperatures leading to months of severe water shortages.
Extreme weather events are seemingly more the norm. With them, their victims too often increasingly go unnoticed and forgotten. Meanwhile, the region's climate casualties garner the dubious distinction of Worst Year in Asia.
Bad Year: East Asia's Babies
In marked contrast to the situation in relatively youthful and growing nations like India and the Philippines, aspiring grandparents in Japan and across East Asia might well ask a critical question. Where are all the babies?
In South Korea, China, and Japan, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong, record-low births continued to prove a major concern in 2024. Fertility rates across East Asia remained substantially below that needed for a stable if not growing population. The long-term economic consequences could well be significant as nations contend with shrinking workforces and aging populations.
Women are having very few to no children. Changing gender roles, long work hours, and the high cost of housing, education, and childcare are all cited as factors behind this East Asia demographic trend.
In March 2024, the Japanese government announced that Japan's birth rate was the lowest it has ever been since the country first collected statistics in 1899. Four-day work weeks and free childcare have been suggested as one way to help fight the decline. Meanwhile, the seemingly losing battle against declining births continues.
Mixed Year: Democracy and Incumbency in Asia
In an era of discontent, being an incumbent is no easy matter. Last October following Japan's general election results, the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito lost their parliamentary majority in the lower house for the first time since 2009. The LDP suffered its second-worst result in its history, securing only 191 seats.
From India to Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan, elections were very much on the calendar across the region in 2024. At year's end, however, we could see how decidedly mixed it was, not just for incumbent politicians, but for democracy itself.
The year began with longtime leader and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina winning re-election overwhelmingly. However, the election was boycotted by the opposition. We then saw her resign and flee the country only months later after weeks of student protests.
As a bewildered world looked on, the year ended with President Yoon Suk-Yeol declaring martial law eight months after his party lost big in South Korea's general elections. The National Assembly then successfully moved both to force the lifting of martial law. Then it impeached him ー as well as his acting successor.
Yet, elections cemented a vibrant democracy in Taiwan. In India, they forced President Narendra Modi to govern with a coalition. They surprised the Pakistan incumbent and heralded the peaceful transition of presidential power in Indonesia to former General Prabowo Subianto. Diverse, mixed democratic trajectories characterized a diversity of democracies in Asia in 2024.
Good Year: the Korean Wave
2024 proved another winning year for "Hallyu," South Korea's wave of wildly popular cultural exports.
K is for Korean. Whether "K-pop" music, "K-dramas," "K-beauty" products, or Korean fried chicken and other "K-food," 2024 proved a good year for this expanding wave of business that has grown well beyond superstar musical groups BTS and Blackpink.
More than 300 Korean movies and series are now available for streaming on Netflix alone. They include Squid Game, Season 2, and contract marriage melodrama When the Phone Rings. The romantic drama Queen of Tears starring Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won was a 2024 global sensation, clocking more than 690 million viewing hours on Netflix.
Also, the world was dramatically introduced to K-literature, with Korean author Han Kang in 2024 becoming the first Korean and first Asian woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
This tsunami of soft diplomacy that has elevated South Korea's global presence is also big business. The global economic benefit to South Korea of "Hallyu" is now projected to hit $198 billion USD by 2030. That figure is according to a BusinessKorea report on a white paper released in July by TikTok and market research firm Kantar.
Best Year: Moo Deng, Thailand's Viral Sensation
To say that the female baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng — Thai for "bouncy pork" — took the world and 2024 by storm would be an understatement.
Born in July 2024 at Thailand's Khao Chew Open Zoo, the "hyper-viral" baby pygmy has seen her memes, photos and videos go global.
Fan accounts on X, TikTok, and Facebook continue to proliferate.
Even NBC's long-running US 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 hazards of instant fame. But, Moo Deng isn't just another pretty face. She correctly predicted the winner of the 2024 US presidential race. How? By selecting the fruit and vegetable plate bearing Trump's name over the one for rival Kamala Harris.
For bringing a bit of hope and joy to a region and world that could use a lot more reasons for good cheer, the designation of "Best Year in Asia" for 2024 goes to Moo Deng.
Here's to a safer, more joyful, and prosperous newy Year ahead.
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Authors: Curtis S Chin and Jose B Collazo
Curtis S Chin, a former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of advisory firm RiverPeak Group. Jose B Collazo is an analyst focusing on the Indo-Pacific region. Follow them on X at @CurtisSChin and @JoseBCollazo.
