Tax revenues increased on average across the Asia-Pacific region for the third consecutive year in 2023, driven by higher value-added tax (VAT) receipts, according to a new OECD report.
Revenue Statistics in Asia and the Pacific 2025, released today, shows that tax revenues rose as a share of GDP in two-thirds (23) of the 35 economies in the Asia-Pacific region for which data for 2023 is available. The largest increases occurred in Niue (4.5 percentage points [p.p.]), the Cook Islands (3.4 p.p.), Azerbaijan (3.4 p.p.) and the Maldives (3.2 p.p.). Tax revenues decreased as a share of GDP in 12 economies, with the largest declines observed in Timor-Leste (10.2 p.p.) and Nauru (10.1 p.p.)
In 2023, tax-to-GDP ratios ranged from 7.3% in Bangladesh to above 30% in New Zealand, Japan (2022 figure) and Niue, averaging 19.6% of GDP across the region as a whole (Figure 1). This was 0.1 p.p. higher than the level in 2022, following increases of 0.3 p.p. in 2021 and 0.8 p.p. in 2022. In comparison, the average tax-to-GDP ratio in the OECD declined by 0.1 p.p. to 33.9% in 2023, while the average for Latin America and the Caribbean fell by 0.2 p.p. to 21.3%. Africa’s average tax-to-GDP ratio was 16.0% in 2022.
The report finds that a strong rebound in international tourism contributed to an increase in VAT revenues of 0.4% of GDP on average across the Asia-Pacific region in 2023. Visitor numbers rose strongly in the Asia-Pacific region in 2023, especially in the Pacific Islands, where they returned to pre-pandemic levels. Among the ten economies with the largest increases in their tax-to-GDP ratio in 2023, six were Pacific Islands.
The increase in VAT revenues offset a decline of 0.3 p.p. in corporate income tax revenues, which was partly attributable to the impact of lower global commodity prices on producers of non-renewable natural resources.
Tax revenues exceeded their level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in a majority of Asia-Pacific economies in 2023. In 24 out of the 35 economies with data for 2023, the tax-to-GDP ratio in that year was above its level in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Looking further back, tax levels in 2023 exceeded their level in 2010 in 20 of these economies; in 12 economies, the increase over this period exceeded 2 p.p.
Revenue Statistics in Asia and the Pacific 2025 also contains information on non-tax revenue, including grants, property income, and government sales of goods and services, as well as other sources of revenue, Non-tax revenue increased in 16 of the 23 economies for which data are available in 2023 and declined in seven. In 2022, non-tax revenues declined in 17 economies and rose in six. Non-tax revenue amounted to over 10% of GDP in six economies in 2023: Niue (218.5%), Tokelau (98.0%), Nauru (77.9%), Marshall Islands (51.5%), Vanuatu (16.7%) and Bhutan (13.9%).
Revenue Statistics in Asia and the Pacific 2025 is jointly produced by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre with the co-operation of the Asian Development Bank, the Pacific Islands Tax Administrators Association, and the Pacific Community, and with support from the governments of Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This 12th edition of the report provides harmonised data on tax revenues for 37 economies in the region, including Niue for the first time.
To access the report, data, key findings, and country notes, visit: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/revenue-statistics-in-asia-and-the-pacific-2025_6c04402f-en.html
For further information, journalists are invited to contact: Media Office (news.contact@oecd.org; T: +33 1 45 24 97 00).