This is the twenty-fifth issue of the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific, prepared by the Statistics Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Data appearing in the publication have been compiled from periodic statements provided by the national sources and the national statistical publications supplemented, wherever necessary by data compiled or published by the United Nations Statistical Division and the specialized agencies of the United Nations. The data up to the end of 1992, wherever available, have been included in the tables. The statistics of the following members and associate members of ESCAP are published in the Yearbook'. Afghanistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Cook Islands, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Fiji, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, Pakistan, Paupa New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Republic of Palau, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Viet Nam. The term “developing ESCAP region” excludes Australia, Japan and New Zealand; the term “ESCAP region” includes Australia, Japan and New Zealand. The statistics cover a wide variety of subjects, viz., population, manpower, national accounts, agriculture, forestry and fishing, industry, energy, transport and communications, external trade, wages, prices and consumption, finance and social statistics. Sumary tables, entitled “Regional statistical indicators”, one relating to the ESCAP region in relation to the world and the other two relating to the whole of the ESCAP region and to the developing ESCAP region respectively, are published together for easy reference. The statistical series included in this Yearbook have been selected on considerations of availability and importance. Readers desiring more detailed or comprehensive statistics in any particular field are referred to annex I, which shows the principal sources and publications.