For many businesses, Asia’s middle class represents the future. But today the Asian Development Bank quietly called for a reality check.
In a generally upbeat statement released on Thursday, the ADB warned that many members of Asia’s emergent middle class are still in a relatively precarious economic position - potentially just one economic shock away from sliding back into poverty - and need further support to strengthen their economic position.
True, middle class people now account for 56 per cent of the Asia’s population - or 1.9bn people - up from around 21 per cent of the population two decades ago. But that’s only part of the story.