Asia
Asia consists of 48 sovereign states and 3 other territories covering a land mass of 45 million km² (17 million square miles). This corresponds to around 30 percent of the earth's total habitable surface. The coastlines in and around Asia have a total length of 224,089 km (139,272 miles). These 51 Asian countries are home to 4.74 billion people (= 59.7% of the world's population). Their share of global economic output is around 39% .77% of Russia's surface area also belongs to Asia. However, as most of its inhabitants (85%) live in the European part of the country and the capital is also located there, Russia is classified by the United Nations as belonging to Europe. The border between Europe and Asia runs roughly along the Urals and south of it along the Ural River to the Caspian and Black Seas.
Turkey, on the other hand, belongs to the Middle East, as 88% of the population, 97% of the country's area and the capital Ankara are located here. Like Europe, Asia lies on the Eurasian continental plate.
Western Asia
ArmeniaAzerbaijanBahrainCyprusGeorgiaIraqIsraelJordanKuwaitLebanonOmanPalestineQatarSaudi ArabiaSyriaTurkeyUnited Arab EmiratesYemenCentral Asia
KazakhstanKyrgyzstanTajikistanTurkmenistanUzbekistanSouth Asia
AfghanistanBangladeshBhutanIndiaIranMaldivesNepalPakistanSri LankaAsian alliances and trade agreements
Asia is the largest of all continents, stretching over a length of 11,000 km (6800 miles) and a width of over 8500 km (5300 miles) from the Arctic Sea to Australia, meaning there are many different climate zones. Asia holds a number of other superlatives; here, you will find, by far, the largest countries in the world. In terms of population, these are India and China. Even Asian parts of Russia are still much larger than any other country in the world. Bangladesh and South Korea, two Asian territorial states, lead the ranking in population density. Standing at 8,848 meters (29029 ft), Mount Everest in the Himalayas is the highest mountain. To the west is the Caspian Sea, the world's largest freshwater lake. At 357,000 km² (137,838 square qmiles), it is half the size of Texas.
In the southeast of Asia, there is the Malay Archipelago, a widely ramified island world that consists of many countries and reaches as far as Australia. Located here are most of the Earth’s volcanoes. From Japan over the Philippines to Indonesia, thousands of islands have a volcanic origin, referred to as the Pacific Firing, where numerous volcanoes are still active. Due to tectonic shifts of various Pacific plates, strong earthquakes repeatedly occur in these regions, triggering volcanoes and tsunamis.
In the southeast of Asia, there is the Malay Archipelago, a widely ramified island world that consists of many countries and reaches as far as Australia. Located here are most of the Earth’s volcanoes. From Japan over the Philippines to Indonesia, thousands of islands have a volcanic origin, referred to as the Pacific Firing, where numerous volcanoes are still active. Due to tectonic shifts of various Pacific plates, strong earthquakes repeatedly occur in these regions, triggering volcanoes and tsunamis.
Most widely spoken native languages in Asia
| Language | Percentage | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 28.7 % | 1,362.5 M |
| Hindi | 12.0 % | 570.7 M |
| Bengali | 6.0 % | 282.9 M |
| English | 3.4 % | 162.8 M |
| Arabic | 3.3 % | 156.2 M |
| Punjabi | 3.2 % | 153.9 M |
| Japanese | 2.6 % | 124.0 M |
| Javanese | 2.3 % | 108.5 M |
| Telugu | 2.2 % | 102.7 M |
| Marathi | 2.0 % | 95.5 M |
| Urdu | 1.9 % | 91.7 M |
| Tamil | 1.9 % | 89.4 M |
| Vietnamese | 1.8 % | 86.1 M |
| Korean | 1.7 % | 79.7 M |
| Turkish | 1.6 % | 78.1 M |