In most economies in the region, this growth has been driven primarily by factor accumulation, that is, by increases in the size of the labour force and by increases in the capital stock through investment, including from abroad. At the same time, significant increases in productivity, particularly in labour productivity, have also taken place throughout the region. However, the slowdown in economic growth that has been observed since 2010 has increased the difficulties faced by Asia-Pacific economies in terms of dealing with their numerous development challenges. However, economic growth has slowed considerably in recent years, reaching only 4.6% in 2015 in the developing economies in the region, less than half of the rate of 9.4% that had been the average in the pre-crisis period of 2005-2007.