Asia
- Alternative meanings: Asia (mythology), Asia Minor, Asia (band).
The continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: 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 (according to others, through the Kuma-Manych Depression), the Caspian Sea, the Ural River (according to others, the Emba River) and the Ural Mountains to Novaya Zemlya. About 60% of the world's population live in Asia. See also Eurasia.
The region of Asia is the continent of Asia plus nearby islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Subregions
Although this term is rarely used by geographers, it is obvious to know what it is. Usually when the term is used, it means Asian Russia, although sometimes the term can include the northern parts of Asian nations like Kazakhstan. But the most common usage of North Asia, means (Asian) Russia.
There is no agreeable usage to this term. Usually, Central Asia includes the dubbed Central Asian Republics Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan anjd Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan. In a broader sense, western China and Mongolia can be in the definition.
This term includes the nations of the Korean peninsula, which are North and South Korea. It also includes China, Taiwan, Japan and sometimes inland Mongolia.
This region occupies the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Malaysia is split by the South China Sea. In Mainland Southeast Asia, there is Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and of course a large part of Malaysia. Island Nations in the region include Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and East Timor.
This place may be dubbed as the Indian Subcontinent. It includes the Himalayan States of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and also the Island nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
It can also be called the Middle East, although that term can refer to countries in North Africa.
And other regions are:
- North Eurasia - The region extends into Asia and Europe
- Central Eurasia - The region extends into Asia and Europe
Population density
This is a 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, Egypt, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| (/km2) | (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 |
| Egypt | 71 | 1,001,450 | 70,712,345 |
| 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 |