Asia

Human development has steadily improved across developing Asia, particularly in South Asia, and at the same time, poverty has decreased significantly across most of the region. The rapid growth in incomes among the poor, along with low unemployment, public transfers (such as pensions and cash transfers, among others), structural transformations and public investments have all contributed to the improvement.

However, there are many challenges to overcome, such as entrenched poverty, and high and rising inequality. The region is also vulnerable to the effects arising from climate change, which adds a further burden to efforts geared toward meeting the SDGs.

The OPEC Fund has longstanding ties with its Asian partners, a constituency that has grown to number 43 countries spread across the development spectrum.  In 2019, US$771.7m was approved  to 14 countries - the majority going to the energy (US$202m), transportation (US$295m) and financial (US$145m) sectors.