The Asian economies selected by the Department for consideration were China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. There are considerable deficiencies in the data available which means that the information presented and the findings of the report must be considered as tentative. The report also draws on other international sources and reports from individual economies. There is a danger in using data from diverse sources that we will be comparing data collected with differences in scope. Comparisons across the economies are also affected by the great differences in population and population growth rates, income and income growth.
China has a huge population and a very low average income per head.
Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have, by comparison with Australia, large populations and low-incomes. Educational and other needs vary among the economies and the capacity to meet them is inverse to the need. Malaysia, Taiwan and Australia appear to make the largest commitment of public expenditure. Australia has high rates of educational participation and high ratios of staff to students in these comparisons. Hong Kong and perhaps Singapore have lower public expenditures than other high-income economies.