EAST-ASIAN NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZING COUNTRIES - ECONOMIC-GROWTH AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE

The world is much impressed by the rapid economic development of four Asian Tigers-Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. However, it has often been taken for granted by many people that their social dev elopment is equally satisfactory. In order to investigate whether this belief is true or not, this paper looks at the levels of social devel opment these countries have attained. Various measures of their qualit y of life will be assessed. Specifically, poverty, income distribution and environmental degradation are discussed. Despite their economic s uccess, this study has found that most tigers are plagued by problems of poverty, increasing income disparities and environmental degradatio n. Further, social expenditures of these countries have been too limit ed to eliminate or impact on these problems.