Asia-Pacific

The Asia-Pacific, often shortened to APAC, is a geopolitical and economic region of the world that adjoins the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It is commonly described as the part of the Old World that lies outside the grouping known as Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its exact boundaries change with the context in which the term is used. The core usually takes in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania, while wider uses add North Asia, Central Asia and even Pacific-facing countries of the Americas; the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, for example, counts Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru and the United States among its economies. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific uses a definition of 51 countries and seven territories grouped into five subregions. The label came into wide use in commerce, finance and politics from the late 1980s, and most of the economies within it are described as emerging markets with significant growth despite great differences between them.