Four Asian Tigers

The Four Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons are the highly developed economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.  These regions were the first newly industrialized countries.  They are known because they had very high growth rates (they became rich very fast) and fast industrialization between the early 1960s and 1990s. Four economies are currently well rich economies (developed countries). 

All four Asian Tigers have a highly educated and productive work force compared to others in the region.

The economic success of South Korea and Taiwan were known as the "Miracle on the Han River" and the "Taiwan Miracle" respectively.

The four tigers has accomplished rapid economical growth in a short period of time.

All the Asian Tigers tried to export (sell) products to rich industrialized nations. They grew rich very quickly (they had double-digit economic growth) for decades. Each nation was not a democracy, and people were not very free in the early years.  All of these countries later became freer, and people now think Taiwan and Korea are liberal democracies.

References

Things you can read
 Ezra F. Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991).

 Other websites 
 BBC report on the Asian Tigers in the aftermath of the 1997 Financial Crisis (includes map of the Asian Tigers)
 ASEAN tigers
 The Elephant at the Gate in China Economic Review 

Category:Country classifications
Category:Hong Kong
Category:Economy of Singapore
Category:Economy of South Korea
Category:Economy of Taiwan