Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore are in the process of adopting approaches that can be characterised by the terms "learning society" and "lifelong learning". This report uses case studies to present a description of the three countries' national socio-economic climates and to assess their political will and governmental commitment to building a learning society. These countries understand how important an educated workforce is in order to achieve economic growth, and they are aware of the need to invest in research. All three countries have recently seen substantial demographic shifts, which will have considerable influence on growth over the coming decades. Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore all value education highly, and citizens of all ages are guaranteed the right to education. This report discusses policies, action plans, governance and financing from each country and clarifies common lessons that can be drawn from the three countries' endeavours. Furthermore, it outlines how each country supports quality formal education, community-based learning, workplace learning, ICT and e-learning, and the recognition of prior learning outcomes. In terms of building learning societies, these three countries have made outstanding progress in recent years, and consequently their methods and experiences have implications for many other countries and communities. While the idea of a learning society has been accepted by more and more countries in the world, there will never be a single set of ready-made formulae for its implementation. The following Annex is included: Building a Learning Society in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore: A Summary. A bibliography is included.