August 3, 2020 - 3:00pm
With the possible exception of America, all countries are under-reported by the British media. Like everyone else, we’re primarily interested in ourselves; and, in any case, reporting from abroad is expensive and sometimes dangerous.
That said, some countries are more under-reported than others. For decades, the most obvious example was China. But we’re beginning to wake-up now — especially at a time when the Middle East is exerting a weaker grip on the news agenda than it did five, ten or twenty years ago.
What about India, then? Well, we certainly ought to hear a lot more about a country that this decade is set to become the world’s biggest (by population). But though insufficient, coverage is at least regular — aided by links of language, history and immigration.
So, neither China nor India is the world’s most under-reported country. To see who does qualifies for that dubious honour take a look at the following chart from the World Economic Forum. It shows how the ranking of the ten biggest economies has changed since 1992, including a projection for 2024:
The headline development is China sailing past America to take the number one spot. That, however, is something we’ve expected for a long time — with some debate as to the precise year. For the real surprise, however, look at the new entries for 2024. Straight in at number five, it’s Indonesia.
This is a nation of almost 270 million people (and something like 280 million by 2024). It has the world’s largest Muslim population— though with Christian, Hindu and other minorities. Geographically, it is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands (6,000 of them inhabited), stretching over 3,000 miles from west to east.
And now it’s an economic giant too. But when did you last read or see a news story about the place? How many Britons do you think could place it on a map or name its leader or say much about the country at all?
We’ve heard about its more famous islands, of course — e.g. Java, Sumatra and Bali. Some of us have been lucky enough to travel to these destinations. But how many of us know that Java is the most populated island on the planet with more than 140 million people? That’s more than twice the population of Great Britain — and more even than Honshu, the main Japanese island. Google ‘Java’, however, and you’ll be buried in references to computer software and coffee.
If the biggest story of the 21st century is the rivalry between China and America, then the Asia-Pacific will be its primary setting. As the biggest country in the region (apart from China), it’s about time we paid Indonesia the attention it deserves.
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SubscribeWell, we did back in 1603, when James Lancaster set up the first English ‘factory’ at Bantam in Java, on behalf of the East India Company.
Sadly, we were subsequently pushed out of Java by the rapacious Dutch and resorted to plan B, India. A ‘blessing in disguise’, as we used to say.
We governed the country from 1815 approx for about 10 years following the European wars, and then handed it back to the Dutch.
Didn’t our ‘Viceroy’ Sir Stamford Raffles behave rather badly?
Having lived in Indonesia (Bali) now for 14 years its always heartwarming to see the new European arrivals wandering around like Dorothy in Munchkin land not believing how colorful, friendly and simply wonderful life can be. They almost immediately lose their learned caution about being among foreigners in a strange land surrounded by unknown cultures and do the stupidest things – that they would never consider doing at home. Like giving a taxi driver $200,000 to buy a plot of land they want to build a dream house on and he should meet them next Tuesday at XXX Bar with the deeds. Needless to say he doesn’t… It happens every year! Other than that Indonesia is fascinating and so multifaceted it’s almost daunting. I’ve managed to visit about 9 of the 17,000 islands personally and they are all different and individual but, of course Bali is the gem and worth any 10 of the rest. Come visit us and see for yourself but leave the house plans at home?
Yes, Indonesia have so much potential. But the diversity, the corruption, the superstitious still in large. We most likely screw up it up our self with the nonstop fight over power and wealthy between groups.
This column is just all so wrong. In 2008, the world’s top 10 economies, based on IMF real GDP on a purchasing power parity (PPP) estimates, were: US, China, Japan, India, Germany, Russia, Brazil, France, UK and Italy. It is true that Indonesia was not part of the mix. In 2008, it was the world’s 12th largest economy, just after Mexico. Why you chose 2008 rather than the most recent year available I don’t understand. If you had looked at 2019 instead, the world’s ten largest economies would have been: China, US, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil,UK, France. So China is already the world’s largest economy, India has a place on the podium and Indonesia is in 7th place, ahead of the UK. The real GDP on a PPP basis forecasts for 2024 I could find (not necessarily the most recent, but I’m not paid to do this) did match yours except Germany was still ahead of Russia. This makes me think that you suddenly switched from nominal GDP estimates in 2008 to PPP measures in your 2024 forecasts, which will certainly get you dramatic changes in country rankings but doesn’t mean anything. There are other PPP estimates out there, from the World Bank and the CIA’s World Factbook. They will give different estimates and slightly different rankings. For 2019 the World Bank rankings are the same as the IMF’s for the top seven countries, so Indonesia’s ranking doesn’t change, but Brazil and France trade places, which means the UK’s 9th place ranking doesn’t change either. UnHerd is a repeat offender in its use of nominal GDP estimates for country rankings. You shouldn’t do this again. If you don’t understand, please contact me. I will explain.