Majority of Asians want their leaders to focus on job creation, economic reforms and development as much as on ending corruption and ensuring democracy in all nations, a new survey has found.

While more than half of Asians feel positively about the impact of economic globalisation and nearly three-quarters want increased cooperation between Asian countries, an overwhelming majority is opposed to a free flow of workers within the region with an open border policy, says the survey.

Released ahead of the World Economic Forum East Asia Summit beginning in Singapore on Sunday, the survey found that proportionally more respondents in India (72.2 per cent) than in Singapore (25.2 per cent) are willing to pay taxes to speed up development in the region.

In addition to economic reform and development, the respondents want their leaders to focus on ending corruption and introducing more democracy.

As many as 40 per cent of the respondents said they are willing to pay higher taxes to stimulate faster development both in their own country and in the region.

The survey, conducted by global market information company TNS, found that the majority of 7,900 respondents pointed to employment as a major concern and called on their next generation of leaders to give priority to job creation.