AI Could Offset Asia’s 25% Workforce Loss by 2050, IMF Says
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Artificial intelligence could help offset Asia’s shrinking workforce as populations age if adoption is scaled evenly across the region, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at a book launch during meetings at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center that AI is projected to lift growth in advanced Asia by 0.5 to 1 percentage point, more than offsetting demographic pressure if productivity is captured.
The demographic drop in North Asia
Countries including China, Japan and South Korea could lose nearly 25 percent of their working population between now and 2050, according to findings in the IMF book, though productivity gains from AI could offset that loss.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva presented the findings during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. She identified demographics, regional trade integration and artificial intelligence as the three central shifts deciding Asia’s economic trajectory.
AI is projected to lift up growth in advanced Asia, where the ageing populations are, somewhere between half a percentage and one percentage point… And what is amazing is that if the countries capture productivity and this growth, they will more than offset the demographic pressure
“Lowering non-tariff barriers and deepening trade pacts across Asia would expand regional gross domestic product by approximately 1.8 percent over the long term.”
Divergence between rich and emerging markets
The gap between mature industrial economies and developing Southeast Asian nations creates an uneven playing field for artificial intelligence rollout. Wealthier hubs possess the computing infrastructure and capital required to automate white-collar tasks and industrial workflows quickly.
Developing markets face different exposure levels. Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF Asia and Pacific department, warned that emerging economies have fewer automated jobs today but also lack the capital to capture software-driven productivity gains without targeted policy support.
Supply chains and operational exposure
For consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and logistics operators across Asia, the findings point to immediate operational choices. Supply chain networks that depend on cheap labour in aging hubs must substitute headcount with automated fulfilment, inventory forecasting and automated sorting.
Retailers in Japan and South Korea already operate with automated store checkouts and robotic warehouse pickers to handle persistent staffing shortages. Expanding those systems into Chinese manufacturing corridors will determine whether factory gate prices stay stable as industrial payrolls shrink.
Trade barriers and reform timelines
Technology alone will not solve structural regional slowdowns without cross-border commerce reforms. Lowering non-tariff barriers and deepening trade pacts across Asia would expand regional gross domestic product by approximately 1.8 percent over the long term.
Srinivasan noted that national workforce training programmes and regulatory reforms can accelerate enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence tools by a decade or more. Asian policymakers now face the task of drafting common digital standards and labour retraining budgets before the projected 2050 workforce contraction reaches its steepest curve.
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