What can Africa and South Asia sell most of in world markets over the next few decades? A country’s exports are powerfully influenced by its resources, especially natural and human. Goods made from abundant resources are exported, whilst goods produced from scarce, and therefore more costly, resources are imported. Levels of education and ratios of people to land vary widely among regions which causes variation in the composition of their exports. There is a particularly striking difference between the world’s two poorest regions, which is likely to persist into the future: Africa exports mainly unprocessed primary products, whilst South Asia exports mainly labour-intensive manufactures