Asia Power Index
Asia’s economic transformation is reshaping the global distribution of power, with profound implications for war and peace in the twenty-first century.
About the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index
The Asia Power Index, launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018, measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia. The project maps the existing distribution of power as it stands today, and tracks shifts over time.
The Index ranks 27 countries and territories in terms of their capacity to shape their external environment — its scope reaching as far west as Pakistan, as far north as Russia, and as far into the Pacific as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
The project evaluates international power in Asia through 131 indicators across eight thematic measures: military capability and defence networks, economic capability and relationships, diplomatic and cultural influence, as well as resilience and future resources. More than half the data points draw from original Lowy Institute research, while the rest are aggregated from hundreds of publicly available national and international sources. The 2025 edition has added economic statecraft as a new indicator in economic relationships — measuring the efficacy of a leader in advancing their country’s economic interests globally.
Dynamic features — including an interactive map, weightings calculator, network analysis, country comparisons, and drill-down explorations of each indicator across multiple years — establish the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index as an indispensable research tool for the study of power in Asia.
Asia Power Index Team
Susannah Patton is Deputy Research Director at the Lowy Institute. She is also the Director of the Institute’s Southeast Asia Program and responsible for the Asia Power Index, the Institute’s annual data-driven assessment that maps the changing distribution of power in the region. Susannah joined the Institute in 2022 and her research has focused on geopolitical trends in Southeast Asia and Australian foreign policy.
Jack Sato is a Data Analyst for the Asia Power Index at the Lowy Institute. Since joining the Institute in 2022, he has also contributed research and analysis to the Global Diplomacy Index and played a key role in the development of the Southeast Asia Influence Index. He holds a degree in Science/Arts, majoring in Statistics, Chinese and Japanese (minoring in International Relations) from the University of Queensland.
Acknowledgements
The Asia Power Index methodology was developed by Hervé Lemahieu in 2018, who led the project from its inception until 2022.
The Asia Power Index team would like to thank Jack Xu, Clare Caldwell, Ian Bruce, and Stephen Hutchings for their critical contributions on the 2025 Asia Power Index. The principal researchers would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Olivia Adams, Bonnie Bley, Nicholas Bosworth, Anthony Bubalo, Xuyang Dong, Michael Fullilove, Harriet Goers, Alyssa Leng, Alex Oliver, Joshua Pearson, Roland Rajah, and Brody Smith to the Asia Power Index.
The Lowy Institute Asia Power Index is part of the Lowy Institute’s Engaging Asia Project, which was established with the financial support of the Australian government.
