Asia Power Index

• 1. Introduction

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  The Asia Power Index runs 131 separate measurements to answer one pressing question: who actually holds power across the Indo-Pacific? The Lowy Institute has published the ranking annually since 2018, covering 26 countries and territories. In 2025, the United States led the table with a score of 80.5. The last-ranked entry that same year posted just 4.6. That gap is not incidental. It reflects a structured hierarchy of four distinct tiers, each defined by a precise numerical boundary. How the Index draws and populates those tiers is the heart of what makes it useful.

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• 2. Resources and Influence

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  Eight thematic measures drive the Index's score, split evenly between two domains. Resources covers economic capability, military capability, resilience, and future resources. Influence covers economic relationships, defense networks, diplomatic influence, and cultural influence.

  Economic capability and military capability each account for 17.5% of the final score. Together they represent more than a third of the total weight. Economic relationships follows at 15%. The remaining five measures each carry 10%.

  Diplomatic reach and cultural influence each enter the formula at 10%, the same weight as resilience, defense networks, and future resources. A country's economic and military profile therefore accounts for more than a third of its score before any of those factors are considered. What those eight measures produce in practice is a number that places each country into one of the Index's classified tiers.

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• 3. The Power Tiers

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  A score of 70 or above earns a country the designation of superpower in the Index. The next threshold sits at 40, where major-power status begins. Middle powers occupy the range from 10 to just below 40. Countries scoring below 10 are classified as minor powers.

  In 2025, two countries qualified as superpowers, with second place posting 73.7. Exactly one country occupied the major-power bracket, at precisely 40.0. Fourth place, at 38.8, fell just below that line, placing it in the middle-power tier.

  At 37.2, the third-place score in 2023 marked the lowest such figure in the available data. In 2021, third place held 38.7; in 2024-39.1. None of those three years produced a major-power entry. Only in 2020 and 2025 did any country cross the 40-point mark.

  In 2025, fifteen countries occupied the middle-power tier and nine sat in the minor-power bracket. How those figures have shifted across the Index's publication history is where the year-by-year data becomes most revealing.

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• 4. Year by Year

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  In 2021, first place reached its highest recorded score in the available data: 82.2. Second place that same year posted 74.6. By 2024, first place had settled at 81.7 and second at 72.7. In 2023, the two leading scores were 80.7 and 72.5. Across every year shown, first place has held above 80 and second above 72.

  The final-placed country scored 4.2 in 2024, 3.7 in 2021, and 3.3 in 2023. In 2020, the lowest entry posted 3.8.

  In 2020, fourth place scored 39.7, falling just short of the major-power bracket that year. In 2025, rank 18 scored 10.6, closing out the middle-power tier. Rank 19 posted 9.5, the first entry in the minor-power bracket.

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