Southeast Asia

With a population of more than 670 million people (almost 9 per cent of the world’s population), Southeast Asia is predicted to be the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2040. Home to major maritime trade routes such as the Strait of Malacca or the South China Sea, it is also a critical hub for global commerce and has increasingly become a flashpoint of great power competition. Finally, the region’s central multilateral organisation, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is a key platform to promote economic and political cooperation in and with the region.