The Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2026 assesses how the region can sustain inclusive growth in an increasingly complex and uncertain global environment. It highlights moderating growth, persistent global uncertainty, volatile capital flows, rising trade tensions and widening disparities within and across countries. With fiscal space under pressure and labour market recovery uneven, the Survey emphasizes the central role of credible fiscal, monetary and structural policies in maintaining stability while supporting vulnerable groups and strengthening domestic and regional sources of demand. This edition advances an innovative approach by defining socioeconomic prosperity through three interrelated dimensions: macroeconomic stability, sustained productivity-driven growth and improvements in people’s wellbeing. By combining regional economic outlook analysis with forward-looking, capacity-sensitive policy guidance, the Survey offers governments, researchers and development partners an integrated framework for aligning short-term stabilization with long-term structural transformation in a fragmented global economy.
