Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong are called four Asian tigers. According to Sarel (1996) they are called tigers whereas over a 30-year period these countries have made powerful spurt in their development in all fields and came close to the developed countries. Singapore is not included in the current module; therefore, the comparison is made between Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and China, North Korea and Japan.
South Korea demonstrated particular progress in improving the overall scientific literacy and the development of exact sciences. South Korea became a world leader in memory chips production and software development. Electronics manufacturer Samsung is representative of the high-tech industry highly developed in South Korea. Taiwan is famous for the computer production. Favored infrastructure, high level of citizens’ education and low tariffs are the main strengths of Taiwan. Hong Kong could combine low taxes, market liberalization and property rights protection for the huge step towards high economic development. Strong financial market puts the country on a par with such financial cities-giants as Tokyo and New York (Sarel, 1996).
According to the data provided by Central Intelligence Agency (2012) GDP and GDP per capita are the main important figures used for the comparison of the countries. In 2011, Japan GDP accounted for $4.444 trillion. Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea recorded $875.9 billion, $351.5 billion and $1.554 trillion respectively. GDP per capita in Japan amounted to $34,700, and real growth rate of GDP was -0.8 percent in 2011. Unemployment rate was 4.6 percent. Taiwan’s GDP per capita is - $37,700, Hong Kong’s - $49,400, and South Korea’s - $31,200. In 2011 real growth rate of GDP in Taiwan accounted for 4 percent, in Hong Kong it was equal to 5 percent and South Korea demonstrated 3.6 percent growth. Unemployment rate in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea accounted for 4.4 percent, 3.4 percent and 3.4 percent respectively. In 2011, China’s GDP amounted to $11.3 trillion, while GDP per capita accounted for $8,400. In 2011, real growth rate of GDP in China was 9.2 percent and unemployment rate was 6.5 percent. North Korea’s GDP accounted for $40 billion; GDP per capita was $1,800. In 2011, real growth rate of GDP in North Korea was 4 percent. As it is observed, China demonstrated the highest rates of the real growth of GDP; however, GDP per capita is one of the lowest among compared countries. In general, North Korea is the weakest country regarding economic development.