The Island - 23/07/2014
By Nikita Samaratunga
In 2001, economist Jim O’Neill famously coined the term ‘BRIC’ to refer to the newly emerging economies of Brazil, Russian, India, and China. In 2014 O’Neill has now popularized a newer and what the BBC calls ‘fresher’ term – MINT – Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey (put forward by Fidelity Investments).
In a time where many developed nations are facing a crisis with regard to their ageing population, what makes MINT stand out, according to O’Neill, are their favourable demographic statistics. Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey are four of the world’s most heavily populated emerging economies, with populations of 118, 237, 174 and 73 million respectively. To add to that in the next 20 years all four countries will see a rise in the number of economically active workers to inactive - meaning they will have a declining dependency ratio. What this will do is ease the burden off the government. In recent years an increasing dependency ratio has plagued countries from the UK to Japan, putting pressure on government budgets and the shrinking work force. Thus the demographics of MINT will certainly be a source of envy for their more developed counterparts.
