Southeast Asia: Transition among the Nagas - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 405

REGIONAL INEQUALITIES
Even though Southeast Asian economies are growing
apace, regional inequities persist. Poverty studies in var-
ious countries indicate that poor people have several
things in common. For example, poverty is more intense
among rural, farming populations in peripheral regions.
Poor people are more likely to be landless, tenant farm-
ers or day laborers. Subsistence farmers are more likely
to be deprived than are commercial farmers. Those with
larger families or with young household heads, particu-
larly if they are uneducated, are more likely to have to do
without. Finally , poor families have little or no access to
health care and education or credit and modern technol-
ogy . We will discuss some specific examples in the fol-
lowing chapters.
When we speak of poverty , it is important to note
that the poor are not necessarily concerned with income,
resources, and consumption. Their version of depriva-
tion is more likely to concern vulnerability , stability ,
regular employment, dependency , and self-respect. Lack
of appropriate shelter is also a factor. Most people would
like to have a permanent, brick dwelling with a tiled roof
as opposed to a woven, fiber walled and roofed house
that requires constant expenditure on repairs.

owners had to carry Tamil workers off in droves
and replace them with new ones. These deadly
mosquitoes continue to plague settlement
schemes, logging operations, agricultural clear-
ance, and the like.
In another case, the British accidentally intro-
duced the Aedes aegypti, another mosquito originally
from Africa. As a super vector of dangerous viruses,
it caused dengue fever to spread explosively in urban
areas. T Today, , it is responsible for the emergence and
spread of the deadly dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Interregional connections and land conversion
policies of the Europeans changed the biotic ecol-
ogy of diseases, especially vectored ones. Millions
of victims have suffered or died as a result.

This growth is thought to be attributable to colo-
nial activities. For instance, the spread of Christianity
in the Philippines increased birth rates considerably .
The expansion of settled agriculture and general peace
provided an atmosphere of stability and security in
which to raise families. Improvements in agriculture
meant improvement in nutrition, encouraging longer
life expectancies and lower mortality rates. By the
1960s, fertility rates had increased dramatically . For in-
stance, Indonesia' s total fertility rate (TFR) was 5.67
and Thailand' s TFR was 6.4. However, with family plan-
ning (begun in 1971 in Indonesia) and social pressure,
these rates had fallen to 2.5 and 1.8, respectively , by
2009. The achievements of these two countries in re-
ducing fertility are to be noted for their noncoercive na-
ture (unlike China).
From 1950 to 2009, population growth was impres-
sive. Thailand' s population increased from 20 million to
67.8 million. In the Philippines, population increased
from 19.9 million to 92.2 million. Indonesia' s population
grew from 83 million to 242.3 million.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century , Southeast
Asia' s population reached more than half a billion. In
1900, the population was a mere 80 million. Even with
birth control programs on the part of such countries as
Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, population dynamics
are uneven. On the one hand, richer countries such as Sin-
gapore and Thailand have low fertility rates. On the other
hand, poorer countries such as Cambodia and Laos have
high fertility rates: 3.0 and 3.5, respectively . Further, dif-
ferent groups within countries have different rates. For ex-
ample, Malaysian women of Chinese ancestry (24 percent

Population Dynamics

Prior to the intensification of the European role, South-
east Asia was a comparatively healthy region. However,
by the nineteenth century , conditions had deteriorated.
Western advances in health provision and medical
techniques had spurred population growth, meaning
that increased concentration and contact along with the
influx of new groups reduced public health effectiveness.
Epidemics became a problem. Paradoxically , populations
increased, with growth rates climbing from 0.2 percent
to well over 1 percent in many areas.

The Spread of Disease

When the rain forest was cleared over vast ex-
panses to plant rubber trees, water bodies were
exposed to sunlight. This caused the Anopheles
maculatus to breed. This mosquito is one of the
most dangerous epidemic vectors of malaria in the
world. Epidemics were so severe that plantation