The societies of East Asia and the Pacific include some of the worlds most technologically advanced as well as the least developed. Nations in the region have withstood colonialism and its legacies as well as many modern wars. Measures of social progress range from the very high to the very low. On measures of physical health people in the region generally fare well but personal rights and freedoms vary greatly from place to place. From China to New Zealand it is a region of contrasts with a variety of approaches to bringing the best of life to the most people.