World consumption of all types of fibres, except for some varieties of natural fibres (flax, ramie, hemp, jute, sisal, and coconut, with world consumption unchanged at 5.8 million tons/year), was at a record level over all preceding years and centuries in 2007 — more than 72.5 million tons, which is 5.2% higher than the 2006 level and much higher than the average annual growth rate of 3.4% in 1980-2007 (Table 1) [1]. The share of chemical fibres increased to 61%. For a world population of 6.64 billion people, per capita consumption is now 10.9 kg of fibrous materials [1]. The world market for polyester, cellulose, and small-scale fibres (spandex, carbon, aramid, etc.) (Fig. 1) has continuously grown in recent years. The current situation with cotton is far from unambiguous in the regions: it is stable in Asia, where all of the material streams are filled, while they weakened significantly in Europe and were oriented toward exports in America. World production of complex fibres made of polyester (PES), polyamide (PA), polypropylene (PP), cellulose (Cell.), natural silk, spandex, etc., increased. In 2007, it increased by 10% in comparison to 2006, to 24.3 million tons, basically due to a 14.1% increase in PES fibres. Manufacture of staple fibre, the initial material for fabricating different grades of textile yarn and nonwoven materials (NM), grew by 3%, to 48.3 million tons. Progress was observed in this sector due to the growing demand for Cell. (+12.9%) and PES (+8.3%) fibres and cotton. World fibre production, including complex (spun directly from polymer solutions or melts) and all kinds of yarn (made from staple fibres, including chemical, cotton, wool, flax, etc.), reached 63.5 million tons, which is 5.6% higher than in 2006. Of the fibres, textile yarn (61.7%) retained the leading position, but complex fibres have exhibited a higher average annual growth rate since 1995, 6.5% versus 3.5% in the yarn sector. Cotton (59%) remained the basic raw material for yarn production, followed by PES staple fibres (25.2%); other fibres were positioned several times lower than the first two (Table 2). Nonwovens is now the most advanced sector of the textile industry based on use of fibre-forming polymers (polyolefins, etc.) and chemical fibres and filaments. The production volume of NM and fibre-fillers rose by 7% a year and reached 7.1 million tons, 6 million tons of which was NM while the remainder was fillers (needle-punch materials) for sleeping bags, pillows, mattresses, and insulating material for the auto industry, and needle-punch materials for reinforcing construction structures. Production is almost totally in Europe, Asia, and both Americas (Table 3). China has had the greatest success here, where processing of NM increased by 14.3% in 2007. The annual increase is due to manufacture of spunbond and a slight increase in the volumes of needle-punch NM. The advances in production and consumption of fibre raw material are primarily due to the rapidly developing market for textile materials, especially in Asia, where this market has turned into one of the main levers of economic growth. The “Chinese miracle” attracted a great deal of attention in our previous communications [3]. We can now only recall that the textile and clothing business brought $175 billion into the country in 2007, i.e., 3.5 times more than in 2002. We add several characteristic examples from other Asian countries, which could perhaps help to understand the alarm of the Russian leadership due to the catastrophic situation in the domestic textile and light industries sounded by the President of the RF, A. D. Medvedev, at the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council in Ivanovo on June 20, 2008. Our examples include countries of different political makeup and history but with the same understanding and result of the predominant role of textiles in economic and social growth. In particular, the growth rate of the industry in India has been remarkable, the highest in the past 18 years. An approximately 8% annual increase is projected up to 2020. According to the projections, India will outstrip the USA by 2042 and will have the largest economy in the world after China.