SINGAPORE (AFP) -- East Asia's remarkable economic growth spurt has led to increasing inequality, corruption and urbanization that must be addressed to ensure continued prosperity and strengthen social cohesion, the World Bank said Monday.

"Asia has not arrived, and... we shouldn't become arrogant and suffer from hubris," said Tommy Koh, contributing author to one of two reports on East Asian development released by the Bank.

"We have many challenges," said Koh, chairman of Singapore's Institute of Policy Studies think-tank and Ministry of Foreign Affairs ambassador-at-large. He joined World Bank economists at a press conference releasing the two reports, "An East Asian Renaissance: Ideas for Economic Growth" and the companion collection of essays, "East Asian Visions: Perspectives on Economic Development."

"An East Asian Renaissance" is the first comprehensive analysis of forces and challenges at play in the region -- which includes Southeast Asia and China but not Japan or Australia -- since a 1997-98 financial crisis rocked the region, the Bank said.

In less than a decade since that crisis, countries of the region have shown "remarkable" growth, it said.

"An economic renaissance is unfolding in the region," it said, noting that in 1990 emerging East Asia had a gross domestic product (GDP), the total of all goods and services produced, of 1.2 trillion dollars. Today it is four trillion -- one half of which comes from China.

The report said more than two-thirds of East Asians now live on more than two dollars a day compared with one-third in 1990, a trend leading to higher demand for consumer durables, non-tradable services and housing fuelled by growing consumer credit.

Since the financial crisis, regional economic trade agreements have grown in number alongside regionalization -- a market-driven process that has seen trade, finance and innovation accelerate within East Asia, the report said.

"Collectively, these countries have sought regional integration to stay globally competitive," it said. "As many of the countries have reduced poverty and reached middle-income levels, however, rapid economic growth driven by this international integration has been accompanied by growing domestic friction stemming from rising inequality, environmental strains, and corruption." East Asian nations have kept themselves competitive by augmenting global integration with regional links and now, "they must sustain this growth through a third, domestic integration aimed at keeping their societies cohesive."

The report said that in the next 20 years, East Asian cities will swell by two million people every month.

"The strains are already apparent in terms of slums, poor services and large informal labor markets," a pattern that will require an "extraordinary response" from policymakers to improve livability.

The World Bank said that if present trends continue, East Asia could almost eliminate absolute poverty within a decade.

"Yet the concerns with social cohesion in the region are growing not falling. Inequality in the region has risen, not just in terms of income levels, but also in terms of schooling attainment and access to basic services," the Bank report said.

Much of that inequality within countries is coming from a growing income gap in urban areas, it said.

Addressing another challenge, the Bank said corruption is high in emerging East Asia, except for Singapore and Hong Kong, and may have been increasing.

Democracy and press freedom can have a significant impact on the control of corruption over the long-term, the Bank said.

"In the shorter term, the risk facing East Asia is that the 'rule of man' has been largely swept away, while the 'rule of law' has yet to become firmly established," the Bank said, suggesting a need for especially strong anti-corruption efforts to prevent a severe impact on growth.