This aerial photo shows flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam.
Xuan Quang | Af | Getty Images
Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of consulting firm RiverPeak Group. Jose B. Collazo is an analyst covering the Indo-Pacific region. Follow them on X at @CurtisSChin AND @JoseBCollazo.
Like the year before, 2024 apparently hasn't brought much to celebrate in the vast Indo-Pacific region. Yet amidst an uncertain economy and continuing geographic tensions, there was still hope and joy to be found.
Who has it bad and who has it good in the Asia-Pacific region in 2024?
As the region awaits President Donald Trump's return to the White House in 2025 and the turbulent Year of the Snake on the lunar calendar, we take a look at what year it was.
Worst year: climate casualties in Asia
In a region known for natural disasters that make headlines around the world, thousands of “climate victims” have been added across Asia in 2024.
Unlike 20 years ago, when the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004 killed more than 200,000 people, 2024 has been a year of rising deaths from typhoons, floods, heatwaves and droughts.
One example is Super Typhoon Yagi, one of the strongest storms to hit Southeast Asia in years, leaving death and destruction in its wake in November. From the Philippines, through southern China and Vietnam, to Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the storm killed hundreds of people and devastated communities and livelihoods.
Floods caused by annual monsoon rains have also left millions of people stranded and hundreds dead in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal, making this year one of the deadliest in recent memory. And if it wasn't record rainfall, it was drought accompanied by scorching temperatures that led to months of severe water shortages.
As extreme weather events seem increasingly the norm and their victims too often go unnoticed and forgotten, the region's climate casualties earn the dubious distinction of “Asia's Worst Year.”
Bad year: children in East Asia
Where have all the children gone? Across much of East Asia, aspiring grandparents and other newborn lovers face another difficult year in 2024. Record low fertility rates continue to pose a serious problem in all major economies, including South Korea, China and Japan, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Fertility rates remained well below the levels necessary for a stable, if not growing, population. The long-term economic consequences could be significant as countries grapple with a shrinking workforce and an aging population.
Record low fertility rates continued to be a serious problem in all major economies, including South Korea, China and Japan, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Women in East Asia have few or no children. Changing gender roles, long working hours, high costs of housing, education and childcare are cited as some of the factors behind this demographic trend.
At the end of the year, South Korea was also officially recognized as a “super-old” society, a concept defined by the United Nations as according to the Korean Ministry of Interior and Security.
Mixed year: Democracy and office in Asia
From India and Japan to South Korea and Indonesia, from Pakistan, Sri Lanka to Taiwan, 2024 is dominated by elections. However, the end of the year turned out to be a decidedly mixed year not only for incumbent politicians, but also for democracy itself.
The year began with long-time Bangladeshi leader and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina clinging to power amid an opposition boycott of the elections, before resigning and fleeing the country after weeks of student protests following the elections.
Soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building in Seoul on December 4, 2024, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law.
Jung Yeon-je | Af | Getty Images
Infamously, the year ends with South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol declaring martial law eight months after his party's major defeat in the general election, with the National Assembly successfully moving to both force an end to martial law and impeach him. The fate of the president is now decided by the Constitutional Tribunal.
However, the elections cemented a vibrant democracy in Taiwan, forced Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rule in a coalition, surprised the incumbent president of Pakistan and heralded the peaceful transfer of presidential power in Indonesia to former general Prabowo Subianto. The year 2024 has been characterized by diverse, mixed democratic trajectories in Asia.
A good year: the Korean wave
K is for Korean. Whether you listen to K-pop music, stream a K-drama, try out the latest K-beauty product from Sulwhasoo, or buy Korean fried chicken or other K-food, you have succumbed to “Hallyu” – the South Korean wave of an extremely popular cultural export. 2024 has proven to be a good year for this rising business wave that has expanded far beyond superstar music groups BTS and Blackpink.
South Korean writer Han Kang has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt | Episode | Getty Images
At last count, there are over 300 Korean movies and series available on Netflix alone, including “Squid Game” “Queen of Tears” Season 2, a romantic drama starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, became a global sensation in 2024, reaching 690 million hours watched on Netflix. And say hello to K literature as you follow author Han Kang, who in 2024 became the first Korean and first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
This tsunami of soft diplomacy that has expanded South Korea's global presence is also big business. The global economic benefits to Korea from “Hallyu” are as follows it is currently estimated to reach $198 billion by 2030– according to a report by BusinessKorea included in a white paper published by TikTok and the research company Kantar.
Best year: Moo Deng, Thailand's viral sensation
To say that a female pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng – Thai for “bouncy pork” – has taken the world by storm in 2024 would be an understatement.
PATTAYA, THAILAND – NOVEMBER 26: Moo Deng is seen in his enclosure at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo on November 26, 2024 in Chonburi, Thailand.
Maciej Jelonek | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Born in July in the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, the “hyperviral” little pygmy was born, and her memes, photos and videos went viral all over the world.
The number of fan accounts on X, TikTok and Facebook is constantly growing. Even NBC's long-running American comedy show “Saturday Night Live” has gotten in on the Moo Deng mania. Asian-American star Bowen Yang portrayed a baby hippo on an episode of “Weekend Update,” lamenting the perils of instant fame.
Adding to her fame, Moo Deng correctly predicted the winner of the 2024 US presidential race by choosing a fruit and vegetable plate with Trump's name on it instead of rival Kamala Harris' plate.
2024 may have been the Year of the Dragon on the lunar calendar, but in the hearts and minds of Moo Deng's fans in Asia and beyond, it was also the Year of the Hippopotamus. For bringing a bit of hope and joy to a region and world that could use a lot more good cheer, the title of “Best Year in Asia” for 2024 goes to Moo Deng.
We wish you a year 2025 full of hope and joy.