Singapore is the most resilient country in Asia Pacific – and fourth globally – according to a new index that measures nations’ ability to withstand geopolitical, economic and climate shocks.
Pakistan ranks among the five most vulnerable countries, highlighting a regional divide between adaptive, high-governance economies and those struggling with political and environmental instability.
The Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index, launched by Henley & Partners in partnership with AI analytics firm AlphaGeo, combined countries’ exposure to global risks with their capacity to recover and adapt.
New Zealand (18th), Australia (20th), South Korea (25th) and Japan (35th) also rank highly, with advanced levels of governance, innovation and climate preparedness.
Larger emerging Asian economies such as China (49th), India (155th), and Indonesia (109th) struggle with governance gaps, regulatory uncertainty and rising physical climate risks, said the report.
Most Southeast Asian nations ranked poorly. Brunei (33rd) was the next highest positioned after Singapore, followed by Malaysia (54th), Vietnam (97th), Thailand (105th), Timor-Leste (141st), Cambodia (152nd), the Philippines (169th), Myanmar (203rd) and Laos (204th).
Pakistan’s position (222nd) near the bottom of the 226-country index – alongside South Sudan, Lebanon, Haiti and Sudan – highlights deep-rooted vulnerabilities. Persistent political instability, fiscal fragility and exposure to extreme climate events have left the country with minimal adaptive capacity, the report finds.
The index finds that nations with structured residence and citizenship programmes – including Singapore, Portugal, Malta and Mauritius – tend to demonstrate stronger resilience. Such programmes attract long-term investment and entrepreneurial talent, reinforcing fiscal stability and climate preparedness.
European countries dominate the resilience list, with Switzerland ranking first, followed by Denmark and Norway. Luxembourg, Finland, Greenland, the Netherlands and Germany are also in the top 10.
Singapore’s high position reflects its track record of equitable growth, robust institutions and social cohesion in maintaining long-term stability, the report finds. The city-state’s combination of low risk and high resilience is “unique in Asia”, noted Dr Parag Khanna, founder and chief executive of AlphaGeo.
The adaptation imperative
Speaking at Unlocking capital for sustainability hosted by Eco-Business in Singapore on Tuesday in a fireside chat with Eco-Business founder CEO Jessica Cheam, Khanna unveiled the index and urged Asia to take the lead in adapting to climate impacts using localised data-driven approaches rather than waiting for global action.
He observed that the economic rise of Asia is “actually accelerating the sinking of Asia,” referring to the rapid depletion of region’s natural adaptation capacity and the region’s high – and rising – levels of climate pollution.
“We [Asia] are now the drivers of carbon emissions. We are the locusts of the world’s coastal mega cities,” he said, referring to sinking Southeast Asian capitals such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila.
The Singapore-based author and speaker, who has written numerous books on climate migration, called for more focus on climate adaptation, which receives a mere fraction of the funding of mitigation measures such as building renewable energy farms.
Pointing out that unlike climate mitigation – which is a global, public good – “adaptation is a local, private good”, said Khanna, who stressed the need for finance to respond to local climate impacts. “It is the sovereign duty of every country to adapt… emphasis and attention on adaptation has to focus locally to solve Asian problems. No one is going to do it for us,” he added.
“Adaptation has to be put in central position alongside mitigation, because it’s simply a fact of life today. Coping with the realities of the present is, I think, an ethical necessity as well as an economic one,” he told delegates at the event in Singapore.
Referring to the upcoming United Nations climate change meeting in Belem, Brazil, next month, Khanna said his expectations were low for any positive outcomes. “The South has been pleading for justice for decades, and even now, it gets peanuts. The loss and damage fund is an illusion – they argue over who funds it while disasters unfold in real time, he said.
Responding to a question from Cheam on the far-reaching consequences of the United States administration under Donald Trump erasing federal climate datasets, Khanna emphasised the need for actionable data. AlphaGeo, for example, collaborates with governments and asset managers around the region to guide 75-year adaptation strategies. “We can show where to build desalination plants in Malaysia, irrigation systems in India, or retirement developments in Japan,” he said. “Resilience is measurable. – it’s risk minus adaptation.”
The damage wrought by climate change will not suddenly bite in 2050 – the deadline for most national net zero targets – it is happening now, he said, adding that climate volatility is “geographically and economically indiscriminate” affecting wealthy and poor countries.
