Asia

Extent

1. The continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and Europe runs via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Hellespont, the Black Sea, the ridges of the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to Novaya Zemlya. See also Eurasia.

2. The region of Asia is the continent of Asia plus nearby islands.

Subregions of Asia include:

• Central Asia
• East Asia
• Southeast Asia
• South Asia
• Middle East
  • Anatolia
  • Levant
  • Mesopotamia
  • Arabia

About 60% of the people in the world live in Asia.

Map

Asia with locations indicated

See also: World map

List of countries/dependencies by population density

in inhabitants/km².

Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and may therefore be lower here.

The whole of Russia and Turkey are referred to in the table, although they are only partly in Asia. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been included, although they can also be considered part of Europe.

West Bank and Gaza Strip are not listed separately, but combined as Palestinian territories.

country	pop. dens.	area	population
	(km-2)	(km2)	(2002-07-01 est.)
Macau (PRC)	18,000	25	461,833
Hong Kong (PRC)	6,688	1,092	7,303,334
Singapore	6,430	693	4,452,732
Maldives	1,070	300	320,165
Bahrain	987	665	656,397
Bangladesh	926	144,000	133,376,684
Republic of China (Taiwan, Quemoy, Matsu)	627	35,980	22,548,009
Palestinian territories	545	6,220	3,389,578
South Korea	491	98,480	48,324,000
Lebanon	354	10,400	3,677,780
Japan	336	377,835	126,974,628
India	318	3,287,590	1,045,845,226
Sri Lanka	298	65,610	19,576,783
Israel	290	20,770	6,029,529
Philippines	282	300,000	84,525,639
Vietnam	246	329,560	81,098,416
North Korea	184	120,540	22,224,195
Nepal	184	140,800	25,873,917
Pakistan	184	803,940	147,663,429
People's Republic of China (Mainland)	134	9,596,960	1,284,303,705
Thailand	121	514,000	62,354,402
Indonesia	121	1,919,440	231,328,092
Kuwait	118	17,820	2,111,561
Armenia	112	29,800	3,330,099
Syria	93	185,180	17,155,814
Azerbaijan	90	86,600	7,798,497
Turkey	86	780,580	67,308,928
Georgia	71	69,700	4,960,951
Cambodia	71	181,040	12,775,324
Qatar	69	11,437	793,341
Malaysia	69	329,750	22,662,365
East Timor	63	15,007	952,618
Myanmar	62	678,500	42,238,224
Brunei	61	5,770	350,898
Jordan	58	92,300	5,307,470
Uzbekistan	57	447,400	25,563,441
Iraq	55	437,072	24,001,816
Tajikistan	47	143,100	6,719,567
Bhutan	45	47,000	2,094,176
Afghanistan	43	647,500	27,755,775
Iran	40	1,648,000	66,622,704
Yemen	35	527,970	18,701,257
United Arab Emirates	30	82,,880	2,445,989
Laos	24	236,800	5,777,180
Kyrgyzstan	24	198,500	4,822,166
Oman	13	212,460	2,713,462
Saudi Arabia	12	1,960,582	23,513,330
Turkmenistan	9.6	488,100	4,688,963
Russia	8.5	17,075,200	144,978,573
Kazakhstan	6.2	2,717,300	16,741,519
Mongolia	1.7	1,565,000	2,694,432

Satellite image

Satellite image of Asia (partial) -

External Links

• Mongolian Tourist Board
• Travel in Mongolia

Referenced By