Who had it best — and who had it worst — in 2025
A fire engulfing a residential building complex at Wang Fuk Court in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, China, on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
What a year this has been. Understandably for many, it could not be over soon enough.
From the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs to natural and man-made disasters across Asia. To new leaders breaking glass ceilings and old leaders whisked off to The International Criminal Court, or even sentenced to death in absentia. Missiles fired across borders. Terrorist attacks in South Asia and the Pacific. Enduring corruption challenges and real estate woes. And people scammed and enslaved.
As 2025 comes to a close, we look back and see who had it bad and who had it good.
Worst year: Asia’s cyber scam victims
The year saw a growing tsunami of cybercrime sweeping across the globe, emanating from Southeast Asia. Criminal gangs largely operating out of Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia defrauded billions of dollars from victims worldwide.
The “perpetrators” are also the victims. Hundreds of thousands of individuals enticed with fake employment offers to these nations, many transiting via Thailand, then held against their will, enslaved to work in these scam centers.
The year saw a growing tsunami of cybercrime sweeping across the globe, emanating from Southeast Asia.
Sarayut Thaneerat | Moment | Getty Images
The kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was lured by a fraudulent acting gig, then forced to work in one operation in January 2025, brought heightened attention to this growing crisis. Even the Trump administration took notice. “The scam centers are creating a generational wealth transfer from Main Street America into the pockets of Chinese organized crime,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Weak governments and corruption allow these multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprises to function, despite high-profile efforts to free captives and close compounds that have operated with near impunity in Southeast Asia.
Unless stopped, these operations will only grow more sophisticated as they begin to use AI and deepfakes to perpetrate their crimes. Asia’s enslaved cyber scam victims earn the distinction of having the worst year in Asia, with sadly far too little hope for escape and rescue in sight.
Bad year: casualties of earth, wind, water and fire
The death count across large swaths of Asia seemed to accelerate by the year’s end. Throughout all of 2025, too many people fell victim to natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and floods, seemingly made worse by human corruption or ineptness.
A March 28 earthquake in Myanmar killed more than 3,600, displaced some 200,000 and even brought down a skyscraper under construction across the border in distant Bangkok, killing dozens more. From Sri Lanka to Thailand to Indonesia to Vietnam to Malaysia and the Philippines, floods, mudslides and typhoons combined to impact millions and kill more than 1,600.
Add fire to the mix. The year…